ISJJ 


imm- 


...  ^ 


PR  i         row 


BV  zUb/ 


Bo4  lboo 


Bainbridge, 

1843. 
Self-giving 


William  F.  b 


; : . 


v/ 

SELF-GIVING 


A  STORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 


%      WILLIAM  F.^INBRIDGE 

Author  of  "Around  the  World  Tour  of  Christian  Missions," 
"Along  the  Lines  at  the  Front,"  etc. 


BOSTON 
D.  LOTHROP  AND  COMPANY 

30  AND  32  FRANKLIN  STREET 


Copyright,  1883. 
D.  Lothrop  &  Company. 


PREFACE 


Since  return  lately  from  a  two  years'  study  of  the  evangelizing  work  of 
the  Church  in  many  lands,  the  author  of  the  following  pages  has  pub- 
lished two  volumes  of  results,  entitled  "  Around  the  World  Tour  of 
Christian  Missions,"  and  "  Along  the  Lines  at  the  Front."  The  former 
was  designed  as  a  universal  survey  of  missions,  from  unusual  famili- 
arity with  the  home  work,  and  from  personal  observation  of  more 
than  a  thousand  stations  in  Japan,  China,  Siam,  Burmah,  India,  Tur- 
key, and  on  a  previous  tour  in  Egypt,  Italy,  Russia  and  other  countries. 
The  latter  volume  was  confined  to  the    evangelizing  enterprise  of  one 

of  the  great  denominations  of  the  Church.    As  additionally,  Mrs.  B , 

who  accompanied  her  husband,  has  published  '"  Round  the  World 
Letters,"  to  be  followed  soon  by  "  Glimpses  of  Mission  Life  in  Many 
Lands,"  it  was  thought  that  the  report  upon  these  exceptional  oppor- 
tunities would  thus  be  finished.  Therefore  attention  was  turned  to 
a  promised  survey  of  Bible  Lands,  entitled  "  From  Eden  to  Patmos," 
for  which  the  preparation  of  previous  tours  and  researches  seemed  in  a 
measure  completed  by  recent  visits  to  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  Arabia 
and  Persia. 

But  the  thoughts  of  the  writer  were  restless  over  a  growing  convic- 
tion of  incomplete  work  upon  Missions.  The  duty  and  privilege  of 
direct  recital  had  been  discharged,  but  there  remained  much  untold 
of  interest  and  profit  to  the  public,  and  helpful  to  the  cause,  that 
would  require,  however,  a  veil  of  fiction  to  the  extent  of  concealing 
many  names  and  locations,  and  of  disassociating  many  home  references. 
With  great  timidity  the  task  of  authorship  in  this  direction  was  under- 
taken. 

Every  incident  linked  into  the  following  story,  is  substantially  a 
fact.  The  writer  has  drawn  upon  his  imagination  only  to  relieve 
embarrassment  on  the  part  of  a  large  number  of  missionaries  and 
executive  officers,  and  of  mission  friends  and  enemies,  who  will  recog- 
nize many  scenes  and  incidents  in  their  own  lives,  often  related  confi- 
dentially, and  many  questions  of  mission  policy,  which  are  either  kept 
from  the  public,  or  very  unsatisfactorily  considered,  because  of  various 
personal  susceptibilities  and  ambitions. 

With  desire  only  to  help  the  cause  of  world-evangelization,  and 
prayer  that  any  harm  done  may  be  overruled  for  good,  this  volume 
also  is  given  to  the  public. 

WILLIAM  F.  BAINBRIDGE. 

Providence,  Rhode  Island,  1883. 


C  O  NT  E  N  T  S 


I.— Llewellyn  Litchfield 
II. —  Junior  and  Senior    .... 
III. — Cleora  Lyddell  and  Margaret  Kilburne 
IV.— The  Girls  at  College. 
V. —  Over  many  Lands  and  Seas       .        , 
VI. —  The  Lyddells  in  Japan 
VII.— Shadows  of  Speculation    .        .        . 
VIII. —  China,  and  the  Missionary's  Call     . 
IX.— A  Battle  with  Unbelief      . 
X. —  Thwarted  Plans,  and  Kansas  Colportage 
XI. —  With  the  Array  of  the  Potomac 
XII.— Tempted  from  Duty  .        k         * 

XIII. —  Taken  Prisoners        . 
XIV. —  Boston  and  New  York  Society 
XXV. —  Supplying  and  Candidating      .        . 
XVI. —  "Washington  or  Agra  ?       .        .        ; 
XVII.—  The  Duke  of  Trafalgar's  Son 
XVIII. —  Accepted  and  rejected 
XIX. —  Rescued  and  betrothed 
XX. —  Preparations  and  Wedding 
XXI. —  Home  Farewells  and  India  Greetings 
XXIL— At  the  Dak  Bungalow     . 
XXIII. —  Visits  to  Delhi  and  Cawnpore 
XXIV. —  Retrenchment  ordered    . 
XXV.— A  little  hindering  Helper 
XXVI. —  Translation  and  Out-Stations 
XXVIL— Hindered  to  be  most  helpful 
XXVIIL—  Zenanas  and  Bible  Women     . 
XXIX.—  Girls'  School  and  Home  Correspondence 


9 

23 

35 

50 

62 

71 

80 

90 

102 

113 

125 

135 

148 

160 

169 

178 

187 

198 

208 

218 

225 

235 

244 

252 

260 

267 

276 

287 

297 


6 


CONTENTS, 


XXX.—  Fruits,  bitter  and  sweet            ....  307 

XXXL— Two  Months  in  Europe    .        .        .        .        .  318 

XXXII— The  Meeting  in  Calcutta           ....  329 

XXXI1L— Self-Support  and  Hindu  Caste         .        .        .  339 

XXXIV.—  Miss  Kilburne's  Mission  Work        .        .        .  347 

XX XV.—  Native  Preachers  and  erratic  Missionaries      .  358 

XXXVL— In  Conflict  with  "The  Rooms"     ...  369 

XXXVII.—  Vacation  in  Burmah  and  Southern  India       .  377 

XXXVIIL— The  Prince  of  Wales  in  Agra          .        .        .  385 

XXXIX.— The  Taj  and  the  Mission  Grave      .        .        .  395 

XL.— Necessity  and  Preparations  for  return  Home  404 

XLI. —  More  Heroism  at  Cashmere  Gate  and  Lucknow 

Residency          ...                .  415 

XLIL— Four  Weeks  In  Palestine          ....  422 

XLIII. —  Addressing  Churches  and  publishing  a  Book  427 

XLIV.— Mrs.  Litchfield  at  Women's  Meetings    .        .  434 

XLV. —  Maintaining  the  Status  Quo     ....  444 

XL VI.—  Disturbing  Hornets'  Nests       .        .        .        .  452 

XLVIL— The  Children  Difficulty            ....  457 

XL VIII. —  London  Mildmay  Conference           .        .        .  4(54 

XLIX. —  Benares  Conference  of  native  Christians       .  469 

L. —  Tour  of  Villages  in  Rajpootana       .                .  474 

LL— Miss  Kilburne's  Turn  at  the  Home-Work    .  480 

LIL —  Church  Discipline  and  missionary  Martyrdom  488 

LIII. —  Showing  the  Work  to  American  Travellers    .  494 

LIV. — Cashmere  and  the  Himalayas         '.        .        .  500 

LV.— From  Agra  to  Glory 506 

LVL — Famine  and  Pestilence 510 

LVIL—  The  Burial  at  Sea 514 

LVIIL—  A  Part  of  the  First  Resurrection  ...  518 


SELF-GIVING 


CHAPTER  I. 

LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD. 

LLEWELLYN,  I  see  by  this  letter  of  reply 
from  Doctor  Arnold,  that  he  thinks  you 
will  be  able  to  pass  an  examination  for  the 
second  term  of  the  Freshman  year,  and  that,  while 
there  are  no  available  scholarships  at  present,  you 
can    rely   upon    one    the    coming   autumn." 

"  That  is  good  news,  indeed,  father,  for  I  feared 
the  illness  which  detained  me  this  term  would 
throw  me  out  a  whole  }rear.  But  as  to  the 
expenses,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  one  thing, 
and  that  is,  to  board  myself  I  have  helped 
mother  a  great  deal  in  the  kitchen,  and  I  am 
very  sure  that  with  a  few  utensils,  in  some  small 
room  in  Washington,  I  can  run  my  own  board- 
ing-house, and   pocket   all   the   savings." 

"No,  my  son,"  replied  the  village  pastor  with 
an  income  of  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year,  look- 
ing proud  ty  at  his  eldest,  yet  with  tears  in 
his   eyes,    "no,  I   do   not   think   that   is  necessary. 

9 


10  SELF-GIVING. 

Your  board-bill  may  rim  us  a  little  behind  this 
year,  but  we  shall  make  it  up  the  next,  when 
you  will  receive  your  hundred  dollars  from  the 
scholarship*" 

Llewellyn  walked  to  the  window,  and  saw  his 
mother  gathering  the  clothes  which  they  had 
washed  together  that  morning.  His  .younger 
brother  and  sister  were  helping  her  with  the 
stout  basket.  As  they  trudged  toward  the  house, 
he  noticed  that  she  stooped  twice,  as  if  suffering 
with  pain,  and  immediately  his  purpose  was 
firmly  fixed  not  to  add  any  burdens  to  that 
home   during   his   collegiate    course. 

"  Please  let  me  try  it,  father,  for  one  term 
only,"  he  said.  "  I  made  enough  in  the  last 
vacation  with  those  sewing-machine  hemmers  to 
pay  all  the  extra  cost  of  this  experiment.  I  shall 
not  starve.  At  home  I  help  get  the  breakfast 
every  day,  and  though  mother  can  excel  me  in 
bread  and  pastry,  you  know  those  things  can  be 
bought   at   a   bakery,   and  — 

"  O,  mother ! "  he  exclaimed,  turning  to  her  as 
she  entered  with  the  study-lamp  trimmed  for  the 
evening,  "cannot  I  make  pancakes -and  porridge, 
and  broil  meat  and  stew  oysters  about  as  well 
as   yourself?" 

"Certainly,  you  can,"  she  replied.  "I  am  sure 
no  hired  help  could  do  better.  When  I  was  on 
that  three  weeks'  visit  to  Philadelphia,  you  ran 
the  house  splendidly,  and  father  said  you  were 
well  served  all   the   time." 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  11 

A  few  weeks  passed,  and  Llewellyn  was  a 
student  in  Franklin  University.  His  youthfulness — 
as  he  was  only  fourteen,  —  was  in  the  way,  but 
his  examination  had  been  unusually  satisfactory, 
and  an  exception  to  the  rule  of  admission  had 
been  made.  Indeed,  exceptions  of  various  kinds 
were  now  almost  the  rule  in  the  sharp  rivalries 
between    the   multitude    of   American    colleges. 

His  father  accompanied  him,  and  they  found  a 
cosey  little  room  for  Llewellyn's  housekeeping  in 
a  public  block  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  at 
seventy-five  cents  a  week.  All  the  rooms  in  the 
college  dormitories  had.  been  taken  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year,  and  this  was  the  best 
arrangement  they  were  able  to  make.  They  had 
applied  at  several  homes  where  great  interest 
was  said  to  be  taken  in  struggling  students,  but 
all  hearts  were  closed  by  the  information  that 
Llewellyn  intended  to  board  himself.  Cooking 
in   their   rooms   could   not   be    allowed. 

The  floor  of  the  little  apartment  finally 
engaged,  was  furnished  with  a  rag  carpet  from 
home.  The  stove  had  an  ornamental  cover  to  con- 
ceal its  character.  Empty  packing-boxes  were  pro- 
cured, which  Llewellyn  supplied  with  shelves  and 
coveud  with  chintz;  and  no  casual  visitor  could 
have  suspected  other  than  a  study  and  sleeping- 
room,  unless  the  call  had  been  made  at  unseason- 
able hours,  or  some  onve  had  unfortunately  stum- 
bled against   the    chintz    cupboards. 

Llewellyn's  boarding  himself  was   a  decided  sue- 


12  SELF-GIVING. 

cess.  He  did  not  live  on  the  choicest  cuts  of 
beef,  or  tender  fowl  and  game,  but  he  had  enough 
of  wholesome  food,  and  it  was  very  palatable. 
At  the  end  of  the  term  he  had  gained  ten 
pounds  of  flesh.  With  the  baker  and  the  butcher 
he  had  become  a  favorite,  notwithstanding  his 
small  purchases ,  and  the  latter,  who  sympathized 
with  the  struggling  student,  would  cut  him  a  quar- 
ter of  a  pound  of  round  steak  as  politely  as  he 
would  serve  his  best  customer.  The  cost  of  his 
food  averaged   one   dollar   a   week. 

In  the  class  his  standing  was  considerably  above 
the  average.  He  marked  very  high  in  all  the 
departments  except  Latin.  He  had  been  encour- 
aged to  commence  that  study  before  he  was  ten 
years  of  age,  and  had  contracted  a  dislike  for  it 
which  he  never  overcame.  In  mathematics  he 
failed  only  once  during  the  entire  course  to  make 
perfect  recitation.  Always  in  his  place  and  punc- 
tual, beginning  his  studies  every  morning  at  five 
o'clock,  walking  an  hour  regularly  before  sunset  for 
exercise,  writing  his  mother  every  week,  receiving 
monthly  a  few  dollars  from  his  father,  and 
respected  by  all,  the  Freshman  year  went  by, 
and   he    had   his   first    vacation    home. 

Its  weeks  were  full  of  various  industries.  In 
the  field  and  shop,  and  in  going  from  house  to 
house  selling  small  wares,  enough  was  secured 
for  a  full  supply  of  winter  clothing,  for  the  new 
books  of  the  next  term,  and  for  travelling  expenses 
on  the  return  to  college   from    Rochdale,  the  home 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  13 

village  near  Newburg  on  the  Hudson.  A  few  days 
before  the  close  of  the  vacation,  the  young  col- 
legian and  his  father  were  strolling  together  upon 
the  bank  of  the  river,  when  the  former  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh !  please  do  not  disappoint  me !  I  planned 
for  it  all  last  term,  and  it  has  been  in  my  mind 
every   day,    almost   every    hour   of    this    vacation." 

"But,  my  son,  it  is  too  much  of  a  load  for  }Tour 
young  shoulders.  People  would  blame  me  for  con- 
senting. Besides,  you  do  not  take  into  account 
many  of  the  contingencies  which  may  arise.  You 
had  a  hard  time  last  year,  and  now  you  may  have 
it   a   little   easier." 

"I  do  not  want  it  any  easier.  I  believe  in  hard 
times.  At  our  last  debate  in  the  Society  Hall,  I 
took  the  ground  that  college  life  ought  to  be  like 
a  grindstone,  hard  and  rough  all  round.  When 
I  have  graduated  and  go  to  studying  law,  it  will 
be  time  enough  to  '  turn  from  the  grindstone  to 
some   soft,    oiled  whetstone." 

"But  girls  at  school  cannot  be  as  economical 
as  boys.  If  your  sister  should  enter  Cowles' 
Female  College,  she  must  board  in  the  institution, 
and   will   require    more    in    the    way   of  dress." 

"  I  thought  of  that,"  replied  Llewellyn,  "  and  to 
meet  such  extras  I  have  secured  a  place  where 
I  can  saw  wood  for  an  hour  a  day,  all  through 
the  next  year.  You  know  I  must  have  some  out- 
door exercise,  and  I  can  substitute  this  for  my 
long  walks  i  and  it  will  be  just  as  good  and  perhaps 
better  than  the  gymnasium  and  the  boating  of  the 


14  SELF- GIVING. 

other  boys.  Besides  there  will  be  fifty  dollars' 
income,    and   no    outgoes." 

"  But  will  it  not  discourage  you  to  know  that 
a  whole  month's  work  has  gone  for  ribbons,  or 
artificial   flowers,    or   a   pretty   sash?" 

"I  can  trust  mother  and  sister  for  that.  And 
you  know  my  scholarship  is  coming  in  —  one  hun- 
dred dollars  solid  every  year;  only  think  of  it, 
father!  And  I  am  to  have  two  dollars  a  week  for 
making  the  fires  and  sweeping  the  Professor's 
rooms ;  and  have  also  the  promise,  the  following 
year,  of  being  assistant  librarian,  with  one  hundred 
and   fifty   dollars   salary." 

"But  I  am  afraid,  Llewellyn,  that  you  will  then 
lose   too   much   time   from   your   studies." 

"  O,  no,  father  !  I  shall  keep  my  books  on  the 
librarj'-desk  all  the  time,  and  when  I  am  not 
checking  off  for  the  boys,  I  shall  be  studying  all 
the  same  as  if  I  was  in  my  own  room.  You 
remember  how  much  I  have  studied  while  working 
for   mother."  % 

"After  all,  my  boy,  your  plan  of  getting  Lucy 
and  Charles  off  to  school  this  year  is  impractica- 
ble. It  is  not  simply  a  question  of  your  putting 
into  the  common  family-purse  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  over  your  own  expenses.  I  believe 
that  the  preparatory  department  of  your  institu- 
tion is  better  than  any  school  in  this  vicinity,  but 
Charles  ought  to  wait  another  }<ear  before  leaving 
home;  and  Lucy  could  not  be  ready  in  a  week's 
time.    But  she  may  go  to  Providence  as  soon  as 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  15 

she  can,  and  you  may  have  your  brother  with 
you   next   year.'* 

Llewellyn's  experience  as  a  Sophomore  was  spe- 
cially marked  by  a  revulsion  in  his  religious 
feelings.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  had  professed 
Christ,  and  united  with  his  father's  church.  His 
associations  had  been  mainly  religious,  warm- 
hearted and  every  way  encouraging.  But  circum- 
stances now  were  very  different.  He  was  a  young 
college  student  adrift  in  a  great  city.  The  presi- 
dent and  professors  seemed  to  take  it  for  granted 
that  as  his  habits  within  the  university-walls 
were  regular  and  even  commendable,  they  must 
be  so  elsewhere.  A  minister's  son,  a  member  of 
the  Church,  always  present  in  his  class,  invariably 
showing  diligent  study,  and  so  evidently  industri- 
ous in  contributing  to  his  own  support,  he  must 
be  correct  in  his  life,  and  faithful  in  the  observ- 
ances of  religious  duties.  Certainly  they  never 
made  any  inquiries  of  him,  and  he  was  shrewd 
enough   to  keep   them   in   the    dark. 

His  first  great  mistake  was  to  drift  from  church 
to  church  on  Sundays.  Whenever  Dr.  Arnold  or 
Bishop  Strong  was  to  preach  anywhere,  he  was 
sure  to  be  there.  If  any  prominent  clergyman 
came  from  abroad,  he  was  eertain  to  be  one  of 
the  congregation.  Thus  the  unfortunate  drifting 
habit  was  acquired,  and  the  good  derived  from 
all  the  excellent  preaching  was  far  from  coun- 
terbalancing the  harm  and  loss.  He  became 
hypercritical.     The  sermons  of  the  regular  pastors 


16  SELF-GIVING. 

failed  to  interest  or  to  instruct.  Religion  became 
a  mere  intellectual  philosophy,  for  his  heart 
was  among  the  icebergs.  Gradually  the  ice  closed 
around   him,    and    he   was   fast    in    a  polar  sea. 

He  was  often  invited  by  some  of  the  boys  to 
take  a  glass  of  wine,  and  to  visit  the  theatre,  and 
he  refused,  until  he  saw  two  of  the  professors  and 
a  prominent  resident  clergj^man  toasting  with 
sherry  and  port  their  hostess  at  an  evening's 
entertainment,  and  was  told  that  one  of  the 
former  had  been  seen  repeatedly  at  the  opera. 
Llewellyn  was  never  intoxicated,  nor  did  he 
become  at  all  addicted  to  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drink;  thanks  more  to  his  poverty  than  to  his 
Christian  principles.  But  now  when  it  was  offered 
to    him   at  social  gatherings,   he    no    longer  refused. 

The  first  night  he  was  at  the  theatre  he  felt 
very  much  ashamed  of  his  presence.  But  there 
was  his  professor  in  mathematics  gazing  through 
his  opera-glass  at  the  ballet  dance.  There  was 
a  well-known  Sunday-school  teacher,  who  had 
repeatedly  invited  the  collegian  into  his  Bible- 
class.  There  was  the  celebrated  tenor  of  St. 
Paul's,  prominent  in  the  orchestra  ;  and  one  of  the 
boxes  was  occupied  by  the  family  of  a  .  deacon 
of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany.  But  for  the 
presence  of  these  respectable  and  presumably  ex- 
emplary people,  the  modest  college  boy  would 
never   have   gone   again. 

One  day  an  active  Christian  of  the  Senior 
class,   who   has    since    become    a   useful   missionary 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  17 

in  Siam,  called  upon  Llewellyn,  and  invited  him 
to  join    a   society    for   missionary   inquiry. 

"  I  beg  to  be  excused,"  replied  the  Sophomore. 
"To  tell  the  truth,  I  have  quite  lost  my  interest 
in  missions.  The  heathen  have  their  own  re- 
ligions, as  well  adapted  to  their  civilizations  as 
Christianity  is  to  ours.  And  the  Bible  declares 
they  have  only  to  live  up  to  the  light  they 
have,  and   the}'   are   safe." 

"  But,  Litchfield,  do  any  of  them  live  up  to 
the   light  they   have  ?  " 

"I   should   think   Buddha   did," 

"  But  he  was  the  most  selfish  man  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  He  thought  only  of  himself  all 
through  life ;  never  performed  a  virtuous  act 
except  to  score  a  merit-mark,  and  practically 
taught  that  there  is  no  such  distinction  as  right 
and   wrong." 

"Well,"  said  Llewellyn,  "I  never  went  so  deep 
into  this  great  leader's  principles ;  but,  generally 
speaking,  you  must  confess  there  is  a  vast  deal 
of  good   in   heathen   religions." 

"  O,  man  is  not  as  bad  as  he  can  be,  for 
we  discover  a  great  deal  of  magnificence  and 
beauty  among  his  ruins.  Everywhere  in  the 
world  there  are  quenchless  yearnings  after  God. 
These  aspirations  often  take  on  the  form  of 
picturesque  mythologies  and  charming  poetry;  but, 
Litchfield,  there  surely  is  no  hope  for  mankind 
except   through   the    Gospel." 

"Even  should   I   grant  that,  as  I  would  unhes- 


18  SELF-GIVING. 

itatingly  have  done  a  year  ago,  still  I  am 
beginning  to  feel  strongly  convinced  that  the 
best  way  to  reach  the  heathen  is  to  take  care 
of  our  religious  institutions  at  home,  make  the 
light  as  it  should  be  here,  clear  and  strong,  and 
it   will   shine   itself  throughout   the   world." 

"But,"  replied  the  Senior,  "Christianity  requires 
a  world-wide  opportunity  to  get  into  this  glorious 
blaze  of  which  you  speak.  One  nation,  one  con- 
tinent, even  half  the  world,  acts  like  an  exhausted 
receiver  upon  the  light.  At  the  best,  all  anti- 
mission   fire   burns   dimly." 

"Anyway,  I  have  my  hands  full  now,  and 
I  think  the  Deity  will  excuse  me  from  any 
special  personal  interest  in   your  mission   subjects." 

Mr.  Howard  saw  that  the  difficulty  was 
beyond  the  reach  of  argument.  He  had  heard 
of  the  worldly  wajrs  into  which  Llewellyn  had 
been  falling  of  late.  He  was  the  same  indus- 
trious, successful  student,  the  same  heroic  fighter 
with  poverty ,  and  a  bank-teller  reported  that 
the  young  student  frequently  bought  little  drafts 
on  New  York  pa}Table  to  Lucy  Litchfield;  but 
he  no  longer  attended  the  college  prayer-meeting. 
None  reported  seeing  him  at  church  anywhere 
of  late.  And  often  his  questions  and  remarks  in 
class-room  and  Society  Hall  indicated  a  decided 
leaning  toward  rationalism  and  the  professedly 
broad  views  of  so-called  liberal  Christianity.  The 
neglect  of  his  instructors,  and  the  bad  example 
of  three   of  them,   were   bearing   their  fruits. 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  19 

"  How  was  it,  Llewellyn,"  inquired  his  mother 
the  week  before  his  return  to  Washington  as 
Junior,  and  in  company  with  his  brother,  "how 
was  it  that  you  lost  your  good  old  habit  of 
regular   prayer-meeting   attendance  ?  " 

u  Well,  I  can  explain,  but  I  presume  you  will 
not  consider  that  I  am  excused.  Soon  after 
entering  college  I  went  to  the  Temple  Chapel. 
There  were  opening  exercises  and  a  prayer  or  two, 
and  then  a  long  pause ;  it  seemed  ten  minutes, 
and  must  have  been  at  least  three.  I  could 
not  endure  the  suspense,  and  I  am  certain 
I  should  have  left  the  room,  had  not  the  leader 
said  several  times,  'Let  there  be  perfect  liberty.' 
So  I  ventured  to  start  a  hymn.  It  was  not  an 
old-fashioned  hymn,  but  one  of  the  moderns,  with 
a  little  jingle.  No  one  joined,  and  so  I  stopped 
with   a   single   verse." 

"I  am  sure,  Llewellyn,"  interrupted  his  mother, 
"  that  was  not  a  very  strange  occurrence.  Often 
people  start  hymns  which  few  or  even  none 
others   in    the   meeting  know." 

"  Yes ;  but  it  is  seldom  that  a  great  solid 
pillar  falls  over  on  a  person  when  he  is  walk- 
ing from  his  seat  to  the  door  at  the  close 
of   service." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  You  never  reported 
home   any    accident." 

"It  gave  me  a  terrible  shock.  One  of  the 
chief  pillars  of  that  exceedingly  respectable  church 
crushed  me    with    the   remark,   'You   were   a  very 


20  SELF-GIVIKG. 

presuming    young   man    to    interrupt   the    exercises 
with    any  such   secular   and   undevotional  music." 

"  That  was  very  discouraging,  my  son ;  but  he 
was  only  one  man.  Perhaps  all  the  others 
enjoyed   your   contribution   to    the    meeting." 

"Perhaps.  But  I  tried  another.  There  was  a 
somewhat  livelier  time,  and  I  enjoyed  it  —  partly. 
Indeed,  I  went  there  regularly  for  a  number  of 
weeks,  but  I  became  tired,  and  made  my  next 
effort  at    the    Fourth    Church,    on    K    street." 

"What  tired  you,  Llewellyn?"  queried  the 
mother   with   a    Christian   mother's   anxiety. 

"Largely,  hearing  a  number  of  'sanctified' 
people  continually  talking  about  themselves.  It 
was  'I,'  'I,'  'I'  interminably.  Even  the  Con- 
gressional Globe  could  not  undertake  to  report 
them,  for  there  would  not  be  half  enough  I's 
in    the    type-cases." 

"  O,    you   are    greatly   exaggerating!" 

"But,  mother,  exaggeration,  sometimes,  is  the 
only   way   of   telling   the    truth." 

Mrs.  Litchfield  shook  her  head  doubtful^. 
She  had  herself  had  some  experience  with  such 
people,  and  it  was  a  great  regret  to  her  that 
her  son,  during  his  college  life,  had  come  under 
the  repelling  influence  of  their  impracticable 
theories   and    glaring   inconsistencies. 

"You  intimated  that  there  was  something  else, 
Llewellyn,"    she    continued. 

"At  first  it  was  ludicrous  in  the  extreme; 
better  than  reading   any  comic  paper.     There  were 


LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD.  21 

several  intensely  conceited  men.  One  of  them 
never  neglected  opportunity  to  eulogize  his  own 
wisdom.  He  declared  that  the  special  danger  to 
the  Church  was  its  failure  to  recognize  his  worth, 
and  that,  though  he  was  poor  and  could  not 
pay  his  debts,  had  he  not  left  the  State  of  New 
York  in  early  life,  he  would  long  since  have 
been    elected  its   Governor." 

"  Ha,  ha,  ha ! "  joined  in  the  father  who  had 
entered  unobserved  the  moment  before,  and  heard 
his  son's  description  of  the  loquacious  and  lugu- 
brious egotist. 

"I  should  fear  you  had  been  at  the  minstrels," 
said  Mr.  Litchfield ;  "  only  you  intimated  that  it 
was   in   a   church." 

"  Better  than  any  minstrels,  father,  until  I 
became  tired  of  it.  I  was  explaining  to  mother 
how  I  got  off  from  going  to  prayer-meeting.  At 
thi>  place  there  were  several  other  intolerable 
bores.  One  had  a  very  lengthy,  commonplace 
prayer,  which  he  always  insisted  upon  repeating. 
Another  was  sure  to  tell  us  how  it  was  when 
he  was  in  Louisiana.  And  several  religious 
vagrants  were  harbored  there,  on  account  of  the 
timidity  of  the  church  leaders,  who  were  afraid 
both  to  insist  upon  order  and  to  call  in  the 
police." 

"  Here,  Llewellyn,"  exclaimed  Lucy,  coming 
into  the  room  with  a  letter  in  her  hand;  "  here 
is  an  introduction  to  my  school-friend  from  Wash- 
ington,   of    the    last    graduating    class    at    Cowles' 


22  SELF-GIVING. 

College :  I  want  you  to  become  acquainted  with 
her  when  you  return.  She  was  the  most  beau- 
tiful girl  in  the  institution ;  and  so  sweet  in 
spirit  and  charming  in  manner.  She  did  not 
lead  in   scholarship,   but   is   a  splendid  singer." 

"Is  she  a  Christian?"  asked  the  mother, 
whose  quick  mind  took  in  all  the  possibilities 
which   might  follow   that  letter   of  introduction. 

"O,  yes,  mamma  j  in  good  and  regular  stand- 
ing in  the   Presbyterian   Church." 


CHAPTER  II. 

JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR. 

AFTER  the  brothers  had  been  at  work  a 
month,  Llewellyn  in  the  Junior  class,  and 
Charles  in  the  Collegiate  Institute,  it  became 
evident  to  the  former  that  they  would  run 
behind  in  their  finances  unless  they  could  man- 
age to  secure  a  little  additional  income.  Llewellyn 
had  supposed  that  his  brother  would  readily  fall 
in  with  his  own  extremely  economical  habits,  but 
he   had  been   mistaken. 

"Charley,"  he  said,  "we  must  have  more  money 
to   support  this  establishment." 

"Well,  my  fatherly  brother,  hand  me  a  pen, 
and   I   will  give   you   my   check  for  any   amount," 

"No  joking  now.  There  are  breakers  ahead, 
and  we   must   steer   clear   of  them." 

"Perhaps    father    and     mother    can    help    us    a 

little   more." 

"I  would  rather  leave  college  a  year,  and 
teach,  than  to  ask  them  for  another  dollar." 
And  Llewellyn's  manner  showed  some  indignation 
that   his    brother   should    harbor    the    thought    for 

a  moment. 

23 


24  SELF-GIVING. 

"What,    then,   do   you   propose?" 

"  There  are  two  projects  in  my  mind.  You 
know  that  I  understand  shorthand  writing,  and 
had  hoped  to  make  it  of  considerable  service. 
But  when  I  report  verbatim  an  evening's  lecture 
or  a  Congressional  or  political  speech,  it  takes 
the  remainder  of  the  night  to  copy  for  the  com- 
positors, and  then  my  lessons  suffer  in  conse- 
quence,   and   a   whole   college  day   is   lost." 

"It  is  a  pity  that  the  compositors  do  not 
understand   phonography." 

"If  they  did,  they  would  have  a  hard  time 
reading  other  people's  notes.  I  cannot  read  all 
mine  after  they  are  cold,  especially  if  I  have 
been  following  a  very  rapid    speaker." 

"  But  I  thought  you  had  some  plan  for  our 
relief." 

"  Yes ;  I  propose  having  a  class  in  shorthand 
writing.  Several  have  told  me  they  would  join. 
It  will  take  only  part  of  the  evening  once  or 
twice  a  week,  and  I  can  have  our  Society  Hall. 
Twelve  or  fifteen  pupils,  at  two  dollars  a  quarter, 
will  be   a   great  help   to   us." 

"I  can  be  sexton,"  exclaimed  Charles,  with  a 
fling  of  his  book  on   their   study   table. 

"  You  can   be   more." 

"  Whew !   I   am   glad   of  that.     What  is   it  ? " 

"  You  have  a  pair  of  boxing-gloves,  and  also  a 
couple  of  rapiers;  you  appreciate  that  kind  of 
sport." 

"  And  you  do  not." 


JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR.  25 

"  Correct ;  yet  perhaps  it  "will  be  well  for  the 
cJass  to  have  a  half-hoar  intermission  during  the 
evening,  when  you  may  instruct  them  in  'the 
noble  art   of   self-defence.'  " 

"  Three  cheers  for  the  royal  tact  of  my  brother 
Llewellyn  !  The  probabilities  are  that  the  boys 
will   care   more  for  my  instruction  ^than  for  yours." 

"  My  other  plan  is,  that  we  take  boarders. 
Two  poor  Sophomores  are  trying  to  make  a  dollar 
a  week  each  cover  their  food,  but  they  have 
had  no  such  training  as  we  have  had  with 
mother,  and  they  are  nearly  read}r  to  count  their 
experiment  a  failure.  Now  let  them  bring  their 
cots  into  our  room,  and  with  a  division  of 
expense  and  labor  all  around,  you  and  I  can 
add    a   dollar   and   a*  half  a   week   to  our  income." 

Charles  promptly  fell  in  with  these  arrange- 
ments. The  boarding-house  plan  worked  admira- 
bly for  nearly  two  years,  and  the  shorthand 
writing  class,  with  the  boxing  and  fencing  accom- 
paniment,   numbered    eighteen   that   winter. 

Llewellyn  presented  his  note  of  introduction  to 
the  beautiful  Providence  graduate,  and  thereafter 
for  months,  the  acquaintance  with  his  sister's  friend 
monopolized  much  of  his  time.  It  was  one  too 
many  irons  in  the  fire,  and  his  studies  began  to 
suffer.  Frequently  in  recitation  he  marked  a  notch 
below   his   previous   record. 

He  partly  realized  the  situation ;  but  then  she 
was  evidently,  to  him,  a  remarkable  young  lady, 
and   any  man    who    had    the   opportunity    to    culti- 


26  SELF-GIVING. 

vate     her    society,     should    do    so,    even    to     the 
sacrifice  of  a   degree   of   standing   in  college. 

Laura  Hamilton's  parents  were  pleased  with 
their  daughter's  new  acquaintance,  and  extended  to 
him    many    courtesies. 

Llewellyn  was  charmed  with  Laura's  singing, 
and  with  her  piano-playing.  He  turned  her 
music  by  the  hour,  and  wondered  how  it  could 
possibly   have  been    half  the   time. 

Both  were  fond  of  skating,  and  over  many  a 
mile  they  glided  hand  in  hand.  Few  conld  pass 
them  on  the  ice,  and  they  enjoyed  flying  far 
away   from   the    others. 

One  evening  after  music  and  wine,  Laura  drew 
from   her   pocket   a  well-filled   envelope,  saying :  — 

"  I  was  reading  this  letter  when  you  came. 
It  is  from  two  girls,  whose  acquaintance  I  formed 
in  Saratoga,  and  who  are  now  in  Yonker's 
Female  College.  One  of  them  is  Cleora  Lyddell 
of  Boston,  and  the  other  is  Margaret  Kilburne 
of   Chicago." 

"  The  first  name,"  observed  Llewellyn,  "  is  very 
poetical :  the  other  has  the  sound  of  sterling 
character." 

u  I  do  not  understand  them.  There  are  a 
great  many  absurd  reflections  about  missiona- 
ries. I  really  think  that  both  would  like  to 
go  to  the  heathen.  But  they  would  get  enough 
of  it  in  three  months.  Do  you  not  think,  Llew- 
ellyn, that  this  whole  missionary  business  is  perfect 
nonsense?" 


JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR.  27 

"Indeed,  Laura,  I  must  confess  that  my  con- 
victions of  late  have  been  drifting  in  that  direc- 
tion. Were  not  these  young  ladies  your  friends, 
I  might  imagine  them  disappointed  in  society  at 
home,  and  turning  their  attention  to  another  field 
of   conquest." 

"  O,  no ;  they  are  perfectly  charming  in  appear- 
ance and  manner,  and  both  their  fathers  are  very 
rich.  They  live  elegantly.  I  wish  you  knew 
them,  only  you  would  fall  in  love  with  both 
and  I  should  be  lonesome.  No  one  to  turn  my 
music!     No   one   to   skate   with   me!" 

"Do  they  say  they  intend  to  be  missiona- 
ries ?  " 

"  No ;  but  that  a  missionary  has  been  visiting 
the  college,  and  they  think  that  such  a  life  is 
the  highest  ideal  in  the  world.  They  declare 
there  is  no  such  giving  as  the  giving  of  self; 
and,  would  )rou  believe  it  ?  they  even  suggest 
that  I  —  I  should  consider  the  question  of  throwing 
myself  away  upon  'ignorant  black  savages  !  Take 
another  glass  of  champagne  with  me,  Llewellyn, 
and  let  us  drink  to  the  health  of  those  silly 
girls." 

Junior  exhibition  came,  and  Llewellyn  was  one 
of  the  speakers.  His  theme  was  self-reliance. 
None  upon  the  platform  had  a  more  manly 
bearing.  He  had  not  all  the  graces  of  oratory 
belonging  to  one  or  two  others  of  his  class,  but 
lie  was  much  more  than  ■  an  ordinary  speaker. 
His    oration    was    thoughtful.     He    lost  himself   in 


28  SELF-GIVING. 

his  subject,  and  secured  a  real  grip  on  the  audi- 
ence. Many  said,  "That  young  man  will  make  his 
mark  iu  the  world."  Laura  Hamilton  was  quite 
sure  of  it;  and  she  had  arranged  with  a  florist 
to  have  presented  to  him,  before  he  left  the 
platform,    an    exquisite    and    expensive    bouquet. 

But  Llewellyn  suffered  a  terrible  mortification 
that  evening,  and  he  felt  that  he  never  could 
rise  above  it.  The  ridiculous  and  somewhat  wicked 
mocl<-scheme  which  the  Sophomore  class  had  dis- 
tributed, represented  him  washing  dishes.  He 
could  not  blame  the  under  class  for  taking  its 
turn,  especially  when  he  remembered  that  the 
year  before  the  mock-schemes  were  arranged  in  his 
room,  as  the  place  least  likely  for  the  Faculty 
to  suspect,  and  that  from  thence  the  distributing 
committee  marched  to  the  hall.  Yet  this  was 
cutting  too  closely,  this  picture  of  himself  washing 
dishes.  The  boarding  plan  he  had  tried  to  keep 
a  secret.  Laura  had  known  nothing  of  it.  But 
now  she  knew  all,  as  did  also  everybody  else. 
Oh,  what  a  disgrace!  He  did  not  wait  for  her 
at  the  door  that  evening,  but  hastened  to  his 
room,  threw  his  bouquet  upon  the  table,  and 
indulged  in  a  fit  of  mortification  and  melancholy 
until    the    return   of   his   room-mates. 

Laura  and  Llewellyn  did  not  meet  for  two 
weeks,  and  then  casually  in  front  of  the  Corcoran 
Art  Gallery.  She  was  crossing  the  walk  to  her 
elegant  barouche,  and  .he  was  on  the  way  to  the 
University   to   sweep   the   Professor's  rooms. 


JUNIOR  ANT)  SENIOR.  29 

He  felt  that  her  greeting  lacked  the  old  cordi- 
ality, and  surmised  that  it  was  because  in  her 
estimation  he  had  fallen  from  a  gentleman  to  a 
poverty-stricken  student.  The  grand  young  girl 
from  Massachusetts  avenue,  with  her  liveried 
driver  and  footman,  would  have  to  stoop  very  far 
to  one  who  washed  his  own  dishes,  cooked  his 
own  food,  and  earned  his  living  by  making  fires 
and    sweeping   rooms. 

"  Miss  Laura,  I  have  not  met  you  lately ; 
please  pardon  my  not  calling.  I  have  been  very 
busy,   and  for   a  few    days  really   ill." 

"  We  shall  be  pleased  to  see  you  at  our  house, 
Mr.  Litchfield." 

"  May  I  do  myself  the  honor  of  calling  to-mor- 
row   evening,    Miss    Hamilton?" 

"Please  delay  a  few  days  more,  as  we  are  in 
the    confusion   of   house-cleaning." 

"  Ah !  that  accounts  for  your  appearing  unusu- 
ally   weary    to-day." 

"  No,  indeed,  Mr.  Litchfield,  I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  house-cleaning.  Father  and  mother 
never  allow  me  to  touch  any  kind  of  mean  work. 
I  bid  you  good-afternoon,  sir  !  "  And  the  highly 
insulted  young  aristocrat  sprang  into  her  carriage 
and  was   whirled   away. 

"  What  a  fool  I  am,  and  have  been  all  this 
last  winter!"  exclaimed  Llewellyn  to  himself. 
"That  Vanity  Fair  had  thoroughly  bewitched  me. 
Before  Junior  exhibition  I  resolved  to  propose  to 
her,    but    now    I    see    she   would    be    the    poorest 


30  SELF-GIVING. 

kind  of  help  to  me  in  trying  to  get  on  in  this 
world.  O,  thank  you,  Miss  Laura,  for  showing 
yourself  so  plainly  to-day.  I  could  not  be  hired 
to  call  upon  you  again  for  all  the  wealth  in 
yonder  treasury    vaults!" 

One  evening  during  the  first  term  of  the 
Senior  year,  Llewellyn  had  his  curiosity  excited 
sufficiently  to  attend  a  missionary  farewell  ser- 
vice, in  the  Tabernacle  Church.  He  said  to 
himself,  "  I  will  go  in  and  see  how  these 
monomaniacs  upon  the  salvation  of  the  heathen, 
perform." 

The  house  was  full,  and  the  speaking  was 
good.  The  pastor  eloquently  enlarged  upon 
Christ's  great  commission,  and  upon  the  opening 
opportunities  for  the  Gospel  in  China.  For  this 
country  the  two  missionaries  present  were  to 
start  that  evening  on  their  return.  They  were 
to  leave  their  three  children  in  America,  and  in 
one  of  the  front  pews  all  of  the  family  were 
together   for   perhaps  the   last   time. 

Before  the  exercises  were  half  through,  the 
youngest,  a  boy  of  eight  years,  leaned  upon 
his  mother's  arm  and  fell  asleep.  It  was  to 
be  his  last  sleep  as  a  child  upon  that  arm 
of  love.  Llewellyn  looked  down  from  the  gallery 
upon  the  scene.  At  first  his  heart  was  touched, 
and  tears  gathered  in  his  eyes.  But  then 
came  a  reaction,  and  a  thorough  revulsion  of 
feeling  toward  the  whole  cause  of  Christian  mis- 
sions which  required  such  sacrifices. 


JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR.  81 

"Those  parents  ought  to  be  sent  to  the  insane 
asylum,"  he  whispered  to  a  classmate  by  his 
side. 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  was  the  reply.  "  It 
seems  to  me  they  are  preaching  the  best 
sermon  I  have  ever  heard  upon  Christianity. 
Those  parents  would  not  do  this  except  at  the 
bidding  of  God,  and  with  the  support  of  the 
Almighty." 

"  God  made  natural  feelings,  and  he  cannot 
ask  anything  so  unnatural  as  this,"  persisted 
Llewellyn. 

"  For  reasons,  doubtless  of  infinite  wisdom, 
he  is  daily  asking  multitudes  of  parents  and 
children  to  separate  at  the  gates  of  death;  why 
may  he  not  ask  a  few  upon  the  threshold  of 
world-evangelization  ?  " 

"Anyway,"  insisted  Llewellyn,  "I  shall  not 
remain  to  see  any  more  of  this  exhibition. 
I  would  like  to  report  it  to  a  society  for  the 
prevention   of  cruelty  to   children.     Good-night ! " 

Ah  !  Llewellyn  had,  indeed,  lost  all  interest 
in  the  mission-cause.  He  had  no  sympathy  for 
it,  and  could  not  appreciate  such  sacrifice.  He 
was  still  a  Christian,  though  very  formal  and 
unfeeling.  And  while  he  had  not  forgotten,  he 
thought  little  of  the  Heavenly  Father's  unnatural 
and  cruel  parting  from  his  only  Son,  that  there 
might   be    salvation. 

It  was  his  last  college  vacation  home,  and 
Llewellyn     ran     nearly     all     the     way    from     the 


32  SELF-GIVING. 

steamer's  dock  to  the  parsonage.  Under  his  arm 
was  a  large  bundle  of  surprise  presents:  a 
sermon-case  and  a  new  book  for  father,  a  muff 
for  mother,  a  sash  for  Lucy,  who  was  home 
on  vacation,  handkerchiefs  for  Charles,  who  had 
returned  the  week  before,  skates  for  Frank,  a 
drum  for  Eddie,  and  a  doll  for  the  baby-girl, 
Roxy.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  been 
able  to  make  such  a  display  of  love-tokens.  How 
happy  the  dear  ones  would  all  be  in  a  few  minutes. 

"Hurrah!  there  is  the  house!"  Llewellyn 
exclaimed  to  himself  as  he  rounded  a  corner. 
"Be   ready    with   your   kisses   and    hugs!" 

He  flew  from  the  gate  to  the  veranda,  and  then 
as  the  door  was  locked,  kept  ringing  the  bell  until 
it  was  answered. 

"Hush!"  whispered  the  wife  of  the  Sunda}*- 
school  superintendent,  speaking  through  the  partially 
opened  door.  "  Step  in  as  quietly  as  possible. 
Your  father  is  very  ill.  The  doctors  think  he 
cannot   live   through   the    day." 

Llewellyn  felt  as  if  he  had  been  shot.  It 
wras  a  thunder-bolt  in  a  clear  sky.  The  affection 
he  felt  for  his  father  was  unusually  strong  and 
tender.  Upon  his  judgment  the  son  leaned  with 
great  confidence,  and  upon  his  counsel  chiefly 
relied   in   preparing  for   the   battle   of  life. 

"Will  he  know  me?"  asked  Llewellyn  with 
quivering   lips. 

"  O,  yes !  His  mind  is  perfectly  clear,  though 
he  is  sinking  very   fast." 


JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR.  33 

"Is   he    expecting   me    this   morning?" 

"Yes;  and  anxiously  too.  He  knew  it  would 
be  a  great  shock  to  you,  and  so  requested  my  hus- 
band to  meet  you  at  the  landing,  and  break  the 
news  gradually." 

"  He  missed  me  in  the  crowd,  and  then  I 
took  a  short  cut.  But  how  considerate  in  father; 
it  was  just  like  him.  Oh,  dear!  I  cannot  —  cannot 
endure  this!    I  hear  father's  voice.     He  is  singing." 

"Yes;  he  is  singing  half  the  time,"  replied 
Mrs.  Belcher.  "  He  is  perfectly  happy,  and  is 
doing  all  he  can  to  comfort  your  poor  mother  and 
the  children." 

"Who  is  at  the  door?  I  cannot  see.  Llew- 
ellyn ?  " 

"  No,  father,"  replied  Lucy ;  "  it  is  Mrs. 
Belcher.     Brother    will    soon    be    here." 

"  He  is  here,  father,"  sobbed  Llewellyn,  as  he 
stepped  into  the  room  and  knelt  by  his  mother 
at    the    bedside. 

"  Do    not   cry,    my   boy." 

"But  how    shall   we    live   without    you,  father?" 

''The  Lord  has  promised  to  be  a  father  to 
the  fatherless,  and  the  widow's  God.  Dear  ones, 
all  of  you,  lean  hard  on  the  promises.  That  is 
right,  Llewellyn,  take  my  hand,  and,  mother,  keep 
tightly    hold    of   the    other.       I    must    sing   again: 

When   through   the   deep   waters   I  call   thee  to  go, 
The   rivers   of   sorrow    shall    not   overflow; 
For   I   will    be    with   thee,    thy  troubles   to   bless, 
And  sanctify   to  thee   thy  deepest  distress. 


34  SELF-GIVING. 

The  voice  faltered.     The  eves  were  becoming  dim. 

"Draw  the  curtain  so   that   I    can   see    you   all." 

"It  is  drawn,  father;  and  the  sun  is  shining 
upon    us,"'    sobbed    Lucy. 

"  Blessed  sunshine !  I  cannot,  then,  use  it  any 
more.  But  the  light  of  the  Gospel  grows 
brighter:  in  it  I  see  more  clearly  every  moment. 
O,  I  am  glad  I  have  been  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel  these  twenty-eight  years!  Llewellyn,  there 
is  nothing  God  so  honors  as  self-giving  in  his 
service.  I  wish  you  were  to  be  a  minister 
or  a  missionary ;  but  I  leave  it  with  the  Lord. 
Whatever  your  calling,  do  not  be  satisfied  with 
giving  your  money  and  time  and  influence  to. 
Christ;  give  yourself!  give  yourself!  Remember 
it  was    the    self-giving   of  Jesus   that  makes   this 

dying  bed 

Feel   soft   as   downy   pillows   are; 
While  on   his    breast   I   lean  my  head, 
And   breathe   my   life   out   sweetly  there." 

His  words  were  now  almost  inaudible.  The 
kneeling  family-circle  could  distinguish  only  such 
faint  expressions  as  "Sweetly  there;"  "nearer 
my  Father's  house ;  "  "rest  for  the  weary;"  "the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock;''  "immortality,"  "Thine 
cannot  die-,"  "beautiful  land;"  "no  storms  ever 
beat ;  "  "  meet    one    another   again." 

His  lips  moved  as  if  he  would  kiss  them  once 
more.  Each  in  turn  —  baby  first,  and  mother 
last  —  bent  over  the  loved  form,  and,  pressing 
the    pale   lips,    kissed   good-night. 


CHAPTER   III. 

CLEORA  LYDDELL  AND   MARGARET   KILBURNE. 

ON  Beacon  Hill,  in  Boston,  the  Lyddell  man- 
sion was  one  of  the  most  imposing.  A 
brownstone  front,  four  stories  and  a  French-roof 
in  height;  it  had  a  central  hall  with  spacious 
rooms  on  either  side,  bay-windows,  and  an  ascent 
from  the  street  of  solid  and  elaborate  workman- 
ship. The  owner,  for  many  years  an  importer  in 
the  silk  trade,  had  amassed  a  fortune.  None 
had  more  honestly  acquired  wealth,  or  were 
more  generous  in  its  possession.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lyddell  moved  in  the  cultured  society  of  this 
"  Athens  of  America  ; "  for,  though  he  was  a  mer- 
chant, they  had  improved  their  opportunities  of 
instructive  reading  and  intellectual  entertainments. 
Their  daughter  Cleora,  an  only  child,  was  a 
beautiful  girl  of  fifteen.  Her  beauty,  however, 
was  not  of  that  superficial  kind  which  dazzles 
the  frivolous,  and  comes  and  goes  with  the  bloom 
of  youth,  and  which  fashion-plates  reproduce  to 
recommend  new  styles  of  dress.  Her  features  and 
form  were  pleasing,  though  not  classic ;  her  eyes 
were  full  of  expression,    though   neither   black  nor 

35 


36  SELF-GIVING. 

blue ;  and  though  a  little  over  height,  it  seemed 
to  be  needed  to  cany  that  thoughtful  counte- 
nance and  dignified  earnestness  and  wealth  of 
affection.  Had  $he  been  made  more  beautiful, 
she  would  have  been  less  beautiful.  Her  hair 
was  golden,  her  teeth  perfect,  and  her  emotions, 
as  with  those  of  her  complexion,  played  over  her 
features  like  sunbeams  upon  the  clouds  of  the 
morning.  "What  an  intelligent  and  interesting 
daughter  you  have,"  was  frequently  said  to  the 
fond  parents.  She  was  a  real  mother's  child, 
already  showing  the  same  common  sense  and 
personal  magnetism.  Life  being  spared,  she  was 
sure  to  make  her  mark  with  both  head-work  and 
heart-work,  and  to  become  more  and  more  attrac- 
tive,   while    others   were    losing   their   charms. 

Mr.  Lyddell,  with  all  his  excellencies  of  char- 
acter, was  under  one  serious  delusion  which  had 
influenced  the  judgment  of  both  mother  and 
daughter.  He  considered  money  an  equivalent 
not  only  for  manual  labor,  but  for  all  kinds  of 
philanthropic  and  religious  personal  effort.  A 
man  who  could  give  money  could  thus  meet  all 
his  own  obligations  to  the  poor,  the  benighted, 
and   to    God. 

"  Father,*'  said  Cleora  one  evening  as  she  saw 
him  drop  the  newspaper,  "  my  Sunday-school 
teacher,  the  missionary  of  our  church,  was  relat- 
ing yesterday  some  very  interesting  stories  of 
her  work  among  the  poor  ;  and  when  I  told  her, 
after   school,   that    I    longed    to    see    those     scenes 


CLEORA  LYDDELL  AND  31  AUG  ABET  KILBTJRNE.    37 

with  my  own  eyes,  and  to  help  the  helpless 
with  my  own  hands,  she  invited  me  to  go  with 
her   at  any    time    my    parents  gave   permission.'1 

"My  child,  it  is  not  best  for  you.  In  every 
department  there  must  be  division  of  labor  in 
this  world,  and  work  is  best  done  by  each  one 
attending  to  his  own  business.  Your  teacher  is 
a  missionary ;  that  is  her  calling.  I  pay  a  hun- 
dred dollars  on  her  salary;  it  is  my  calling  to 
earn  that  hundred  dollars  toward  her  support. 
You  are  of  my  family,  not  hers;  and,  while  we 
are  prospered,  you  also  should  confine  your 
attention  to  giving  to  the  various  deserving  char- 
ities." 

"But,  father,  it  seems  so  much  like  our  not 
doing  any  good  ourselves,  and  merely  hiring 
others    to    do    it." 

"  O,  no,  daughter.  They  lift  one  end,  and 
we  the  other  of  the  same  load.  It  may  be 
necessary  for  you  to  exercise  a  little  of  the 
grace  of  self-denial  in  conforming  to  this  wise 
arrangement  ;  but  it  is  best,  do  you  not  say  so, 
mother  ?  " 

"Well  —  yes  —  but  I  must  confess,  husband, 
that  when  we  had  only  little  to  give,  and  I 
went  myself  with  that  little  to  the  poor  and 
the  suffering,  I  found  more  joy,  more  assurance 
of  God's  blessing,  than  now,  when  we  merely 
lead  subscription  papers  and  put  the  largest  bills 
into   the    collection    boxes." 

The    minister    of    their     church    had    frequently 


38  SELF-GIVING. 

conversed  with  Mr.  Lyddell  upon  this  subject, 
and  had  done  what  he  could  to  counteract  the 
home-influence  of  the  father's  mistaken  theory. 
Still,  his  wealthy  parishioner  would  do  nothing 
but  give.  The  preacher  must  do  the  preaching, 
the  choir  the  singing,  the  sexton  the  care-taking 
of  the  building,  and  the  various  missionary  agen- 
cies the  missionary  work,  and  he  would  sign  his 
checks ;  nothing  more.  Christ  did  not  thus ;  and 
his  spirit  cannot  be  pleased  with  any  such  isola- 
tion from  personal  contact  with  a  suffering,  dying 
world. 

Never  was  there  a  home  more  hospitable  to 
ministers  and  missionaries.  It  had  a  suite  of 
rooms,  furnished  expressly  for  them.  In  the 
bookcase  was  a  well-selected  library  of  theologi- 
cal and  missionary  literature.  The  writing-desk 
was  fully  supplied  with  stationery,  and  all  the 
envelopes  were  stamped.  The  coachman  had 
orders  always  to  bring  out  the  horses  at  the 
call  of  these  guests,  and  mother  and  daughter 
were  never  happier  than  when  entertaining  and 
being  entertained  by  returned  missionaries.  No 
wonder  that  these  worn  and  weary  ones  from 
foreign  lands  enjoyed  visiting  in  this  home.  And 
there  are  many  such  homes  awaiting  them,  if 
not  as  elegant,  yet  equally  comfortable,  cordial 
and  restful.  It  is  the  working  of  the  great  law 
of  compensation  ,  and  if  the  labor  of  missionaries 
among  the  benighted  heathen  is  the  most  tire- 
some   and  tearful,   yet   none   others   have   as    many 


CLEOBA  LYDDELL  AND  MARGARET  KILBURNE.    39 

friends,  as  many  homes,  and  as  much  eager  hos- 
pitality. 

One  missionary  woman  from  Burmah  spent  a 
week  at  the  Lyddell  mansion,  whose  presence  did 
not  prove  a  benediction.  The  difficulty  was,  she 
had  taken  too  sombre  a  view  of  mission  life,  had 
gathered  only  its  shadows,  and  had  no  sunbeams 
to  scatter  around.  She  appeared  to  be  afraid  all 
the  while  that  her  life  of  self-sacrifice  was  not 
appreciated. 

"  Do  you  ever  have  anything  good  to  eat  in 
Burmah?"  inquired  Cleora  one  day,  as  they 
turned  from  a  turkey  dinner  to  the  family 
library. 

''Very  seldom.  It  is  rice  and  curry,  and 
curry  and  rice,  until  one  really  loathes  the  sight 
of  it." 

"But  I  like  rice  very  much.  And  once  father 
sent  home  a  bottle  of  curry,  which  he  said  is 
used  extensively  in  India;  an^l  we  thought  it  was 
very    delicious." 

"  Rice  is  different  from  wheat.  When  you  have 
to  use  it  all  the  time,  you  soon  tire  of  it,  dread- 
fully." 

u  Do  you  not   have   any   meat  ?  " 

"  Very  poor  stuff,  and  very  costly.  With  our 
small    salaries,    we    cannot   afford   much   of  it." 

"Are    there    <x\\y    nice    fruits   in    Burmah?" 

"  No ;  they  are  all  tasteless  or  repulsive.  I 
assure  you,  Miss  Cleora,  a  missionary  must  suffer 
continually   the    pangs   of    hunger.     It    is   a    great 


40  SELF-GIVING. 

deal  worse  than  being  shut  up  in  prison  with  an 
allowance   of   simple    bread   and    water/' 

"I  do  not  desire  to  be  a  missionary,  then," 
replied    Cleora,    shuddering. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  a  life  of  continual  depression 
and  torture.  We  must  live  on  bare  floors.  Hor- 
rible lizards  crawl  over  the  walls,  and  fall  on 
our  heads  —  sometimes  tearing  out  the  hair  and 
skin  ;  and  there  are  snakes  and  centipedes  and 
scorpions/'' 

"Ob,  you  poor  missionaries,  to  be  compelled  to 
endure   all   such   dreadful    things  ! " 

"But  these  are  not  the  worst.  O,  Miss  Cleora, 
I  could  not  tell  you  one  tenth  of  what  we  suffer. 
The  torturing  little  insects,  we  never  can  get 
rid  of  them.  And  the  habits  of  the  natives  are 
so  filthy,  and  of  many  of  them  so  indecent. 
Every  day  the  sights  and  the  smells  are  enough 
to   drive   one   crazy." 

"  Sometimes  your  weather,  I  have  read,  is  very 
warm." 

"  Warm  !  That  is  no  name  for  it.  It  is  hot, 
hotter,  hottest.  Why  half  of  the  year,  Cleora,  it 
is  like  going  into  an  oven  ready  for  the  baking, 
and  the  other  half  of  the  year  it  is  simply  a 
change  into  a  steam-bath.  Many  cannot  endure 
it,  and  they  die.  There  are  many  missionaries' 
graves   in    Burmah." 

A  call  interrupted  the  conversation  with  this 
pessimistic  missionary  woman.  It  is  probable  that 
the   good   lady   was   suffering   from   physical    indis- 


CLEORA  LYBBELB  AND  MARGARET  K1LBURXE.   41 

position,  or  that  she  had  been  in  controversy 
with  "the  Rooms."  She  had  not  to4d  any 
untruth,  only  it  was  all  au  extremely  one-sided 
testimony. 

The  facts  are,  that  "a  majority  of  foreigners 
relish  the  native  rice  and  curry  as  a  standard 
diet ;  that  the  meat,  while  not  as  good  as  the 
best  in  America,  is  wholesome  and  palatable ; 
that  while  the  cost  of  beef  is  greater,  less  of  it 
should  be  eaten  in  that  climate ;  that  they  have 
much  fruit  which  is  generally  considered  very 
delicious,  though  not  to  compare,  even  as  this 
missionary  had  in  mind,  with  the  best  of  home 
apples  and  pears ;  that  their  wooden  or  mat- 
covered  floors  are  more  comfortable  than  if  they 
had  carpets  ;  that  their  lizards  are  very  rarely 
troublesome,  being  far  less  annoying  than  flies; 
that  only  once  in  all  her  eight  years  did  any  of 
them  fall  upon  her  head,  and  then  the  little 
saurian  was  so  frightened  that  he  clung  tightly, 
and  she  pulled  him  off  too  suddenly,  scalping 
herself  a  trifle ;  that  often  years  pass  without 
residents  seeing  any  snakes  or  centipedes  or 
scorpions;  and  the  smell  and  immodesties  to  be 
found  in  the  low-life  neighborhoods  of  cities  and 
towns  in  America,  are  sometimes  comparable  to 
what  the  missionary  encounters  in  heathen  lands. 
Indeed,  the  filth  and  nudity  of  other  and  inferior 
races  are  not  as  impressive  as  when  exhibited  by 
those  of  our  own  complexion,  our  own  Caucasian 
family. 


42  SELF-GIVING. 

Cleora  turned  to  receive  her  caller  with  a 
mental  resolve  never  to  be  a  missionary,  and 
with  a  strengthened  conviction  that  her  father 
was   right.  , 

The  large  summer  residence  adjoining  the 
Lycldell  cottage  at  Newport  belonged  to  the  Kil- 
burnes,  of  Chicago.  There  were  only  three  in 
the  family,  father,  mother,  and  their  daughter 
Margaret,  a  remarkably  intelligent  and  interesting 
young  lady  of  sixteen.  Mr.  Kilburne's  Western 
home  was  the  most  sumptuous  palace  upon 
Michigan  Avenue.  Until  his  late  purchase  at 
Newport,  their  summers  had  been  spent  upon  a 
little  farm  a  few  miles  beyond  Chicago,  which  was 
still .  held  in  the  wife's  name  as  a  retreat,  should 
financial    reverses  ever   overtake    them. 

That  the  fickle  winds  of  fortune  should  some- 
time blow  the  other  way  was  quite  probable, 
for  Mr.  Kilburne  was  one  of  the  wildest  specula- 
tors in  oil,  iron  and  wheat.  Legitimate  business  was 
too  tame  for  him.  There  was  not  enough  excite- 
ment in  bona  fide  investments  and  actual  transfers 
of  property.  He  was  continually  dealing  in  mar- 
gins, or  in  other  words,  betting  upon  the  rise  or 
fall  of  the  market.  Sometimes  his  name  appeared 
in  the  papers  as  the  leading  manipulator  of  a 
great  "  corner."  One  season  he  and  his  friends 
held  back  from  the  market  for  a  month  several 
millions  of  bushels  of  wheat,  though  they  had 
never  paid  for  a  tenth  of  it ;  and  thus  tempora- 
rily  a   fictitious  value    was   created,    which  realized 


CLEOBA  LYDDELL  AND  MARGARET  KILBUBNE.   43 

to  Mr.  Kilburne  over  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Yet  he  had  lost  an  equal  amount  in  oil, 
and  though  at  this  time  he  was  largely  on  the 
winning  side  in  iron,  there  were  nyiny  wise  heads 
which  predicted  that  at  no  distant  day  the  bot- 
tom would  fall  out  of  all  this  reckless  gambling, 
and  that  the  Kilburnes  would  have  to  come 
down    to    the    wife's   little    farm. 

Mr.  Kilburne's  mother  was  a  very  godly  woman, 
whose  heart  mourned  over  the  worldliness  of  her 
son  and  his  wife.  Sometimes  her  faith  was  drawn 
to  its  utmost  tension,  as  she  thought  of  her 
many  prayers  and  counsels,  and  years  of  better 
example.  Was  she,  after  all,  to  die  and  leave 
her  boy  a  slave  to  Mammon,  and  her  daughter- 
in-law  a  blind  devotee  to  the  fashions  and  friv- 
olities of  this  world  ?  Mysterious  indeed,  but 
frequently  the  blessings,  born  of  a  mother's  pious 
heart,  pass  over  successive  generations,  and  reap- 
pear as  Heaven's  own  planting  and  fruitage  in 
children's    children. 

Thus  it  was  with  the  yearnings  and  endeavors 
of  this  aged  saint.  God  blessed  her  life  and  labors 
to  Margaret.  The  pearls  she  scattered  around  the 
feet  of  her  own  Thomas  and  his  Catherine,  were 
gathered  by  the  little  fingers  of  the  granddaughter. 

During  the  last  visit  of  the  venerable  mother 
to  the  home  on  Michigan  Avenue,  Margaret  one 
evening,  after  her  parents  had  gone  to  the  theatre, 
placed  a  hassock  beside  her  grandmother,  and 
inquired    with   thoughtful,    eager   expression  — 


44  .  SELF-GIVING. 

"Do   you  not   think    I   am    a    Christian?" 

"Why   should    I    think  so,   my   darling?" 

"  Well,  I  do  not  like  to  go  where  papa  and 
mamma  are  to-night,  bat  enjoy  meeting  with  Chris- 
tians  where   they  sing    of   Jesus  and    his   love." 

"  I  have  gladly  noticed  this  in  you,  and  have 
frequently   thanked    God   for   it,    my   child." 

"  And,  grandmamma,  I  care  more  for  the  Bible 
than  for  all  the  other  books  in  our  library.  It  seems 
as  if  God  wrote  it  for  me  —  all  for  me.  I  have 
read  the  Gospel  of  John  and  half  of  the  Psalms 
so  many  times,  that  I  almost  know  them  by 
heart." 

"  Why  do  you  love  Jesus  and  his  word  so 
very    much?" 

"  He  was  wounded  for  my  transgressions.  He 
was  bruised  for  my  iniquities;  the  chastisement 
of  my  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes 
I    am    healed." 

"  Do   you    desire   to   serve    him  ? " 

"  O,  yes,  indeed ;  with  all  my  heart  !  If  only 
I  were  a  man,  I  would  be  a  minister  or  a  mis- 
sionary, and  go  everywhere  telling  the  'old,  old 
story '  of  Jesus  and  his  love.  Papa  and  mamma 
contribute  money  to  missions,  and  they  let  me 
give  one  hundred  dollars  a  year;  but  I  would 
give   myself,  if  I   could,  a  hundred    times   over." 

"  If,  when  you  are  a  few  years  older,  darling, 
and  have  completed  your  education,  you  should 
still  desire  to  be  a  missionary,  God  may  open 
the   door.     Do   you  pray   every   day?" 


CLEORA  LYDDELL  AND  MARGARET  KILBVRNE.   45 

44  Indeed,  grandmamma,  I  could  not  live  without 
it.  I  pray  every  morning  and  every  night;  and 
some  days  I  am  really  impatient  for  night  to 
come,  when  I  may  go  alone  into  my  room  and 
lock   the   door,   and   read   the   Bible  and   talk  with 

Jesus." 

"Why   do   you   lock   the  door?" 

"Because  — mother— I  would  rather  not  tell 
you,    grandmamma." 

"And  I  do  not  wish  you  to  tell  me;  no!  But 
have  you  other  reasons  for  thinking  you  are  a 
Christian  ?  " 

"I  am  not  afraid  to  die.  I  am  more  afraid  to 
live  and  meet  the  temptations  of  this  world.  But 
I  was  reading  last  night  in  my  Bible,  the  one  you 
gave  me  Christmas —let  me  kiss  you,  grand- 
mamma—I was  reading  that  God  has  a  way  of 
escape  from  temptation  for  every  one,  and  that  the 
grace    of   the   Lord   will  be  sufficient    unto   me. 

"Grandmamma,  why  are  you  crying?  There, 
let  me  wipe  away  those  two  big  tears!  In  a  little 
while— for  oh!  dear,  you  are  so  old— God  will  wipe 
away    all   tears    from    your    eyes." 

"  My  heart  is  troubled,  darling  ;  yet  not,  oh,  not 

for  you  !  " 

"Why,  grandmamma,  Jesus  says:  'Let  not  your 
heart  be  troubled  :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also 
in  me.  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions: 
if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place   for  you.' ' 

«  Yes,  a  place  for   me ,  a  place   for  you ;  but   ah, 


46  SELF-GIVING. 

will  there  be  anjr  place  prepared  for  —  Let  us 
kneel  and  pray  together,  darling.  It  is  pretty 
hard  for  me  to  get  down  on  these  old  knees, 
but  I  like  to  do  so;  it  seems  to  bring  me 
nearer  to  the  mercy-seat  where  Jesus  answers 
prayer.  There,  help  me  a  little ;  I  am  veiy  tired 
and    weak    to-night." 

But  when  they  had  knelt  by  the  old  arm-chair, 
and  were  ready  for  prayer,  a  verse  was  sung  in 
the  adjoining  church  meeting,  which  was  so  dis- 
tinct and.  familiar,  and  so  strangely  coincident 
with  the  Scripture  Margaret  had  been  repeating 
to  the  weary,  weeping  saint,  that  they  waited  in 
silence  : — 

He  is  fitting  up  my  mansion, 
Which  eternally   shall   stand  ; 
For  my  stay  shall    not    he   transient 
In  that  holy,    happy   land. 

There  is  rest  for  the  weary, — 

"  Grandmamma,"  whispered  Margaret,  after  wait- 
ing a  few  moments  ,  "  do  you  wish  me  to  pray  first  ?  " 

There    was   no   answer. 

"  Grandmamma  !  " 

But  no  reply.  Margaret  touched  her  arm,  and 
laid  her  hand  upon  the  snowT-white  head,  but  the 
spirit  was  not  there.  Already  it  had  entered 
upon  that  "  rest  which  remaineth  for  the  people 
of   God." 

The  third  of  August,  1858,  was  the  fifteenth 
anniversary    of    Cleora    Lyddell's     birthday.      Her 


CLEORA  LYDDELL  AND  MARGARET  EILBURNE.   47 

parents  arranged  to  celebrate  it  with  a  grand 
party  at  Newport,  and  Margaret  Kilburne  was 
heart  and  hand  with  Cleora  in  the  preparations. 
No  arrangements  were  -  made  for  dancing,  for 
Cleora  declared  she  would  not  have  it,  and  Mar- 
garet agreed  with  her  that  it  was  not  a  really 
becoming  amusement  for  gentlemen  and  ladies. 
But  they  planned  and  practised  for  readings  and 
music  and  games,  while  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell 
made  every  effort  for  the  young  people  to  have 
a   pleasant    time  ;    and    they    did. 

Mr.  Kilburne  and  Mr.  Lyddell  were  seated 
together  near  the  close  of  the  evening,  enjoying 
the  evident  success  of  their  daughters  in  making  a 
party  pass  off  pleasantly  without  wine  or  dancing, 
when   the    former    observed : 

"  Lyddell,  our  daughters  deserve  a  monument. 
You    and    I    are    making    mone}r,    let    ns    invest." 

"The  fact  is,  Kilburne,  they  are  developing 
astonishingly.  This  affair  to-night  would  please 
immensely  nearly  all  the  ministers  in  the  country. 
I  meant  to  have  wine,  but  Cleora,  the  witch,  hid 
the  cellar  key.  And  if  she  had  not  protested,  I 
would  have  engaged  a  band  for  dancing.  What 
is   your   idea    of  an    investment   for    these    girls?" 

"They  are  talking  all  the  time  about  tire  poor, 
and  the  afflicted,  and  the  heathen,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries. I  say  wre  go  halves  on  a  ten  thousand 
dollar  investment  in  commemoration  of  this  even- 
ing; the  girls  to  decide  for  what  benevolent 
object   the    fund   shall   be    placed." 


48  SELF-GIVIXG. 

"  Agreed ;  let  rue  call  to  order,  and  3-011 
announce    it." 

Mr.  Kilburne  then  explained  that  Mr.  Lyddell 
and  himself  wislied  to  commemorate  this  fifteenth 
birthday  anniversary  of  Miss  Cleora  by  a  ten  thou- 
sand dollar  investment  in  some  good  cause,  that  it 
would  be  known  as  the  Cleora-Margaret  Fund,  and 
that  the  two  girls  might  decide  now,  or  afterwards, 
to  what  benevolent  cause  the  gift  should  be   made. 

They  whispered  together,  and  quickly  reported 
the  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society  of  New 
York,    and   its    Zenana    work    in    India. 

A  blank  look  stole  over  the  countenances  of  both 
fathers.  They  glanced  at  their  wives,  but  there 
was  evidently  no  information   there. 

"I  say,  Lyddell,  what  do  they  mean?" 

UI  do  not  know.  It  must  be  all  right.  These 
girls  read  missionary  literature  and  get  far  ahead 
of   us    in    this    line." 

"  Probably  some  tribe  of  Indians,  poor  wretches  ; 
and  these  philanthropic  New  York  women  are  send- 
ing them  blankets." 

"  I  would  ask  them  what  Zanas  means,  and  some- 
thing about  the  Woman's  Society,  but  I  do  not 
wish  to  before  all  these  hundred  young  people. 
Quite  likely  many  of  them  are  posted,  and  we 
should    appear    very    ridiculous." 

"  Better  trust  the  girls,  and  sa}r  all  right." 

"All  right,  then;  for  all  time  interest  only  to 
be  used  ;  the  Cleora-Margaret  Fund,  in  the  Mis- 
sionarv    Women's    Union  "  — 


CLEORA  LTDDELL  AND  MARGARET  KILBUBNE.   49 

"No,  father!"  whispered  Cleora ;  "it  is  the 
"•Woman's    Union    Missionary    Society." 

"You    are    rioht.      It    is    well,    in    making   gifts 

to  corporate  soeielies,  to  state  their  names  accu- 
rately." 

"Yes,"  added  Mr.  Kilburnej  "and  it  is  for  their 
Zebra    enterprise." 

"Zenana,  father,"  interrupted  the  mortified 
Margaret. 

"  0,  yes !  a  slip  of  the  tongue :  the  similarity 
of   the    first    two    letters." 

"I  say,  Lyddell,"  grumbled  Mr.  Kilburne,  as 
they  separated  for  the  evening,  "if  we  do  not  wish 
to  make  fools  of  ourselves  again,  we  had  better 
read    the    mission-periodicals." 

"Anyway,  I  am  going  to  find  out  before  retir- 
ing to-night,  and  without  asking  Cleora,  if  possible, 
what  Zenana  means.  I  half  suspect  that  it  is  a 
foundling    hospital." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE   GIRLS   AT    COLLEGE. 


THE  month  following,  Cleora  and  Margaret 
entered  Yonker's  Female  College.  It  was 
of  course  arranged  that  they  should  be  room- 
mates, as  also  that  their  apartments  should  be 
elegantly  furnished.  They  took  high  rank  in  their 
class,  for  in  addition  to  their  natural  ability  and 
thorough  preparation,  they  applied  themselves  faith- 
fully to  their  studies,  declined  false  helps,  and 
were  so  regular  in  their  habits,  that  neither  sick- 
ness nor  physical  weakness  interfered  with  their 
intellectual  labor.  Teachers  and  fellow-students 
soon  learned  to  value  them  for  their  moral  and 
religious  character,  more  than  for  their  social 
position    and    mental    capacity. 

Their  special  accomplishments  were  soon  appar- 
ent—  Cleora's  reading  and  recitation,  and  Mar- 
garet's writing  and  singing.  There  was  always 
perfect  silence,  the  dropping  of  a  pin  could  be 
heard  in  the  class-room  or  society  hall,  or  chapel, 
whenever  the  one  was  interpreting  from  book  or 
memory  the  thoughts  of  authors ;  and  the  same 
eager   attention    was   given   to   the   admirable    com- 

50 


The  Girle  at  College.  —  Page  50. 


THE  GIBLS  AT  COLLEGE.  51 

positions  and  delightful  songs  of  the  other.  If 
they  had  not  been  Christians,  they  would  have 
become  vain,  with  so  much  attention  and  so 
many    compliments. 

"  Cleora,"  said  Margaret  one  Sunday  morning, 
"  how  would  you  like  to  go  this  afternoon  to  that 
new   mission    Sunday-school   on    Clay   street?" 

"  A  capital  idea !  No  doubt  we  can  secure  per- 
mission, and  perhaps  our  services  may  be  accepted 
for  awhile  as  teachers  of  some  little  boys  or 
girls." 

"Indeed,  Cleora,  it  is  not  right  for  us  to  enjoy 
so  many  advantages,  and  not  be  doing  something 
for    others." 

"  I  often  think,"  continued  Margaret,  "  that 
after  graduation  I  would  prefer  above  all  things 
to  devote  my  life  to  some  missionary  work  in 
home    or   foreign    lands." 

"  O,  do  not  think  of  going  to  the  heathen," 
quickly  responded  Cleora ;  "  that  is  for  others ; 
not    for   you   and    me." 

"Perhaps  so;  perhaps  not.  Why  should  you  and 
I    stay    at   home  ?  " 

"  Because  we  can,  and  have  opportunity  at 
least   to   do    a   vast   amount   of  good    here." 

"But  I  presume  that  is  true  of  almost  all  who 
have  gone  to  the  thousand  millions  of  heathen; 
and  you  would  shut  out  the  Gospel  from  the 
majority  of  the  world  to  gratify  a  stay-at-home 
feeling  !  " 

Both    became    very    happy    as   teachers    in   that 


52  1F-GIVIXG. 

Sunday-school  They  relished  their  studies  the 
more  since  the)'  were  giving  as  well  as  receiving. 
Through  their  scholars  they  became  acquainted 
with  several  families,  in  whose  homes  their  vi 
were  as  "cops  of  cold  water  to  thirs  y  e  ills." 
Two  hours   every     Sunday    and    Wednesday,    while 

-mates  were  reading  books,  they  were  reading 
poetry  and  romance  in  real  life.  The  mother  of 
one  in  Cleoi  ss  had  not   left   her    bed  for   ten 

years.     But  such  a    patient  sufferer;    so  thoroughly 
_:ied   to    the  will  bo    diligent  with  her 

fingers  in  crocheting,  and  thus  helping  in  home 
support.  The  young  teacher  felt  that  she  received 
in  that  lowly  tenement  much  more  than  she  could 
possibly    give. 

In  another  home  intemperance  was  the  cloud  of 
sorrow.     Both    the    father  and   the  n    were 

slaves  to  the  tyrant.     Here    Cleora    found    her 
new  .     She    was    told    by    a    neighbor    that 

only  the  mother  and  her  little  girl  were  at 
home. 

To  her  gentle  knock  a  harsh  voice  screamed, 
"Come    in  !  " 

••  Thank  you ;  I  am  trying  to  find  more  Sunday- 
school  scholars  for  n  s,  and  I  hear  that 
you   have   a  clear   little    girl." 

"  There  she  is  asleep  on  her  bed  in  the  corner. 
Her  father  sent  her  for  rum  late  last  night,  and 
she  is   making   up   lost   tin* 

Only  a  bundle  of  straw  and  a  little  form 
wrapped  in  an  old  ragged   blanket.     Just   then    the 


THE  GIRLS  AT  COLLEGE.  53 

child  turned  from  the  wall,  partly  awakened  by 
the  cold,  and  drawing  the  folds  more  tightly 
around   her  shoulders,  said  : — 

k>  O,    mamma,  I  wePhder  what    really  poor  people 

do : " 

"Here  is  a  grand  young  lady  come  to  see  you! 
Wake  up!" 

"I've  been  dreaming." 

"What  have  you  been  dreaming,  darling?"  in- 
quired Cleora,  her  heart  already  won. 

M  That  a  beautiful  angel  came  to  see  me,  and 
took  me  up  in  her  arms  and  kissed  me;  and  she 
told  me  of  a  father  and  a  brother  in  the  skies  who 
always  love  little  girls;  and  she  said  that  this 
brother  had  bought  a  new  dress  for  me  ;  and  — 
I  forget  the  rest.  O,  it  was  the  sweetest  dream 
I  ever  had  !  " 

"If  you  will  come  to  my  Sunday-school  class 
next  Sunday,  I  will  tell  you  the  rest  of  it,"  said 
Cleora,    hardly  able    to    restrain    her  own    emotions. 

A  bundle  was  left  by  an  expressman  the  next 
morning  for  the  little  dreamer's  Sunday  outfit, 
including  shoes,  stockings,  a  warm  plaid  dress,  and 
a  hat. 

Margaret's  proteges  were  boys.  She  had  a  hard 
time  with  them,  but  it  paid  well  in  the  end.  A 
dread  fid  oath  in  an  undertone  from  one  of  them, 
connected  with  an  observation  regarding  the  new 
teacher,  was  her  introductory  greeting.  For  a  long 
time  it  was  very  evident  that  two  or  three  of  the 
boys    came    only    for    fun,    and    that    they  meant   to 


54  SELF-GIVING. 

have  most  of  it  out  of  her.  But  eventually  her 
heart  and  tact  conquered,  and  through  her  class 
she  gained  access  to  several  homes  which  were 
made  far  better  and  happier  by  her  sunshine  and 
benefactions. 

One  especially,  the  little  attic  retreat  of  her 
brightest  boy.  There  lie  lived  alone  with  his 
mother :  he  said  he  had  never  seen  his  father,  and 
knew  nothing  about  him.  For  a  year  nearly,  Mar- 
garet could  secure  no  invitation,  not  even  permis- 
sion, to  call  from  the  once  celebrated  theatre 
actress.  "  Mother  says  she  prefers'  to  be  alone," 
was  the  invariable  reply  to  her  repeated  solicitations. 

At  last  came  a  beautifully  written  invitation, 
with  added  regrets,  that  one  who  had  been  so 
kind  to  her  child,  had  been  so  rudely  treated. 

"  I  desired  to  meet  you,  Miss  Kilburne,"  said 
the  actress,  after  giving  Margaret  the  only  chair 
in  the  room,  and  seating  herself  upon  a  box,  "  not 
to  solicit  any  charity ;  that  we  refuse  from  every 
person.  My  son  does  errands  for  one  of  the  stores, 
and  his  employer  occasionally  sends  me  a  little 
sewing.  But  I  have  noticed  that  Henry  has  lately 
taken  special  pleasure  in  learning  pieces  and  speak- 
ing them  here  to  me,  and  my  anxieties  are 
aroused  lest  it  be  the  commencement  of  tempta- 
tion   to   the   stage." 

"That   taste,    Mrs." 

"  Do   not   say    Mrs. ;   I    was  never  married.     Say 
only   Antoinette." 
— "  that   taste    for   memorizing  and  recitation  from 


THE  GIRLS  AT  COLLEGE.  65 

standard  literature  is  one  which  my  room-mate  is 
very  earnest  in  cultivating,  and  I  am  beginning  to 
find  myself  quite  inspired  with  her  enthusiasm." 

"  Better  it  were  not  so.  I  was  once  a  student 
at  Clifton  Hall,  and  well  along  in  my  course. 
Several  of  the  congregation  of  a  theatre-loving 
minister  of  the  town  arranged  for  an  amateur  per- 
formance. I  had  a  leading  part,  was  very  suc- 
cessful, and  it  turned  my  head.  The  next  day's 
paper  eulogized  me  as  a  coming  star  of  the  first 
magnitude.  I  gave  up  my  studies  and  home  and 
moral  associations,  and  joined  a  stock  company  in 
Rochester   at   five    dollars   a    week." 

"I  should  think  that  with  so  many  extra 
expenses  for  wardrobe,  you  would  have  soon 
starved,"    observed    Margaret. 

"  I  was  determined  to  succeed.  And  look  at 
my  success !  See  the  elegant  paintings  upon  these 
walls,  the  artistic  frescos,  these  Persian  rugs  upon 
the  floor  !  See  my  piano,  and  my  library  !  Notice 
the  gorgeous  robe  in  which  I  am  attired.  Look! 
is  my  Henry  driving  home  with  the  bays  or  the 
the  grays? 

"Yes,  I  was  bound  to  succeed.  But  who  talks 
of  me  now?  The  flowers  are  all  faded  that  once 
fell  in  showers  at  my  feet.  You  think  I  am  forty- 
five;  I  am  on!}7  thirty -two.  Wrecked  at  thirty- 
two!       My    God!" 

"But  the  'wrecked'  are  often  saved,"  said 
Margaret,  laying  her  hand  upon  the  bowed  head 
of   the   groaning    Antoinette. 


56  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Not  such  as  me ;  but  save  yourself,  and  save 
my  child !  Never  go  to  the  theatre.  Let  ama- 
teur theatricals  alone.  Beware  of  managers:  ah! 
how   many    of  them    manage    to    ruin   girls! ' 

"  Do  all,  Antoinette,  who  are  in  the  theatrical 
profession,    lead    immoral    lives  ?  " 

"Not  every  one.  But  as  a  rule:  the  exceptions 
are  like  the  fireflies  in-  a  dark  night,  only  flit- 
tine  here  and  there.  Rarelv  does  our  life  fail  to 
destroy   body,    mind,    and    soul." 

"  I  had  not  thought  that  the  prospect  beyond 
the    foot-lights    is    so    terrible." 

■  "All!  the  wrecks  are  mostly  unknown.  The 
world  talks  of  Charlotte  Cushman,  but  has  thrown 
me  to  the  dogs.  My  companions  crowd  to-day 
the  dens  of  every  city  and  town  in  the  land. 
Thousands  of  them  will  be  walking  the  streets 
to-night.  And  their  victims,  ha,  ha!  we  have 
thrown    them    by    the    thousand   into    hell !  " 

Margaret  shuddered.  She  had  at  times  enter- 
tained  the  quixotic  idea  of  giving  her  life  to  the 
reformation  of  the  stage.  Siie  felt  that  she  might 
win  a  high  position,  and  with  unsullied  character 
and  earnest  endeavor  could  be  a  missionary  to 
the  profession.  Antoinette  had  helped  to  dissipate 
such  foolishness,  for  which  Margaret  afterward  was 
profoundly   grateful    to    God. 

The  young  collegian  persisted  in  her  efforts  for 
both,  until  Henry  was  in  a  Christian  school  in 
Albany,  and  his  mother  was  appointed  matron  of 
its   boarding   department. 


THE  GIRLS  AT  COLLEGE.  57 

Cleora  and  Margaret  were  invited  by  a  class- 
mate  from  Rochdale,  to  spend  a  Thanksgiving  at 
her  home.  They  accepted,  and  had  "  a  royal 
time,"  not  forgetting,  as  do  the  vast  majority  of 
Christian  people,  the  hour  assigned  to  the  house  of 
God.  The  three  evangelical  churches  had  arranged 
for  a  union  service,  since  at  Rochdale,  as  almost 
everywhere,  it  was  necessary  thus  to  gather  the 
scattered  fragments  in  order  to  make  a  fair  con- 
gregation. 

It  was  the  year  before  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Litchfield,  and  he  preached  the  sermon.  His  sub- 
ject was  Self-Giving  ,  the  Measure  of  true  Gratitude. 
Both  the  young  ladies  felt  greatly  strengthened 
in  their  determination  to  lay  themselves  upon 
God's    altar. 

At  the  dinner-table  reference  was  made  to  the 
struggles  for  an  education  on  the  part  of  the  preacher's 
eldest  son,  Llewellyn.  Mrs.  Darrow,  the  hostess, 
seemed  to  know  all  about  his  boarding  himself,  and 
sawing  wood,  and  sweeping  floors,  and  sending  his 
sister  to  Providence. 

"  I  admire  such  young  men,"  said  Margaret. 
"Every  one  of  them  is  worth  a  dozen  of  the  kid- 
gloved,  perfumed  dandies,  who  are  ashamed  of  any 
work  except  that  of  the  toilet,  and  understand  only 
the  arts  of  cosmetics  and  flattery,"  added  Cleora 
with  a  gesture  that  unfortunately  upset  her  saucer  of 
cranberries. 

"Never  mind,"  said  Mr.  Darrow,  UI  would  much 
rather  have  missed  my  dinner,  than  lost  that  speech. 


58  '  SELF-GIVING. 

Say,  Hattie,  the  only  sensible  girl  the  world  was  ever 
to  see,  did  not  take  my  name  thirty-two  years  ago." 

"  No,  indeed,  William ;  it  was  only  thirty-one 
years  ago.  #You  are  making  me  out  an  old  woman, 
when  I  feel  as  young  as  ever." 

"  That  is  because  i  have  taken  good  care  of  you.5' 

"  Well,  even  if  you  are  a  little  conceited,  I  hope 
each  of  these  girls  will  get  as  good  a  husband." 

"Do  you  think,  Mrs.  Darrow,  that  we  must  be 
married?"  asked  Margaret. 

"  O,  no  !  many  single  women  live  most  useful  and 
happy  lives." 

"  I  suppose,"  observed  Cleora  in  all  earnestness, 
"  that  in  each  case  this  should  be  left  to  Him  who 
will  not  fail  to  guide  the  prayerful  spirit  aright." 

An  epoch  in  the  young  ladies1  lives  at  college  was 
created  by  the  fortunate  visit  over  Sunday  of  a  mis- 
sionary woman  of  the  American  Board,  who  had 
spent  twenty-five  years  in  Asia.  She  had  been  a 
widow  for  two  years,  but  was  soon  to  -return  to  com- 
plete her  life-work,  as  if  it  had  depended  not  on  a 
husband,  but  on  Christ. 

Invited  by  the  Society  for  Missionary  Inquir}',  she 
had  addressed  the  young  ladies  in  the  chapel,  and 
met  many  of  them  socially  in  the  parlors.  She  was 
a  most  cheerful  person,  and  all  the  while  scattered 
sunbeams  around  the  great  subject  of  heathen  evan- 
gelization. She  spoke  of  trials,  yet  as  only  incidental 
to  the  greater  opportunities,  privileges  and  blessings. 
She  described  the  parting  from  home,  }"et  so  as  to 
leave   her  hearers  not  beside  the  tearful  parents,  nor 


THE  GIBLS  AT  COLLEGE.  59 

at  the  steamer's  dock,  but  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross 
on  Calvary.  She  made  mention  of  some  of  the  de- 
lightful attachments  she  had  formed  among  the  natives, 
of  the  intelligence  and  culture  which  frequently  sur- 
prised her,  and  of  the  indescribable  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing constant  progress  made  in  the  great  work.  She 
said  times  had  changed  materially  since  she  first 
went  out,  and  that  now  it  was  usual  for  the  mission- 
aries to  be  comfortably  housed  and  fed,  to  have  in 
many  places  at  least  pleasant  English  society,  and  to 
feel  that  with  prayerful  care  of  health,  the  probability 
was  for  as  long  life  in  Christ's  service  as  in  any  of 
the  absorbing,  wearing  occupations  of  the  home-land. 
This  visit  was  very  opportune.  With  Cleora  it 
almost  entirely  removed  the  unfavorable  impressions 
of  foreign  mission  life,  left  by  the  gloomy,  shadow- 
gathering  and  scattering  missionary  from  Burmah, 
who  was  entertained  that  week  two  years  before,  in 
her  father's  house.  Both  Cleora  and  Margaret,  from 
a  private  interview  with  this  fairer  and  more  prudent 
representative  of  the  foreign  work,  felt  a  strength- 
ened conviction  that  their  parents'  wealth  and  social 
position  did  not  relieve  them  from  personal  obliga- 
tion. Still  they  should  inquire,  "  Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?"  It  was  by  no  means  settled 
that  they  would  become  foreign  missionaries,  but  they 
were  quite  decided  that  they  stood  before  God  alone 
in  this  matter,  and  that  it  was  their  duty  to  take  under 
prayerful  consideration  the  question  of  giving  them- 
selves, beyond  all  possible  giving  from  home  and  in 
the  home-land. 


60  SELF-GIVING. 

It  was  directly  after  this  visit  of  the  missionary, 
that  the  joint  letter  was  written  to  Laura  Hamilton 
at  Washington,  over  which  the  latter  and  Llewellyn 
Litchfield  made  so  merry  with  sparkling  wit  and 
sparkling  wine.  It  was  a  part  of  the  discipline  of 
the  young  Christian  toilers  at  Yonkers  College,  that 
they  should  try  their  best  with  their  friend  Laura, 
and  fail. 

Many  a  pleasant  and  profitable  hour  was  spent  at 
the  pbservatory,  until  the  astronomical  professor  in 
charge,  a  young  man  of  pleasing  address,  became  in- 
fatuated with  Cleora.  Promptly  and  decidedly,  how- 
ever, she  repelled  all  his  advances,  for,  among  other 
reasons,  she  could  not  endure  his  blank  materialism 
and  hostility  to  evangelical  Christianity. 

Margaret  also  was  called  upon  for  a  similar  consci- 
entious decision.  The  son  of  a  wealthy  New  York 
banker,  who  had  large  business  dealings  with  her 
father,  pressed  his  attentions  upon  her.  But,  although 
he  was  everything  in  intelligence  and  heart  and 
social  position,  that  any  young  lady  could  desire,  his 
not  being  a  Christian  was  in  her  judgment  an  insu- 
perable obstacle. 

As  might  be  expected,  both  Cleora  and  Margaret 
were  very  exemplary  in  their  general  deportment. 
They  indulged  in  no  clandestine  interviews  with 
young  gentlemen.  The}T  engaged  in  no  correspond- 
ence which  they  were  unwilling  their  parents  should 
see.  Yet  they  were  not  perfect,  and  occasionally 
showed,  as  in  the  following  incident,  that  the}r  both 
needed  more  reverence,  thoughtfulness  and  years. 


THE  GIRLS  AT  COLLEGE.  61 

At  midnight  the  mouse-trap  sprung  in  one  of  the 
young  ladies'  rooms.  The  little  intruder  was  caught, 
and,  despite  the  rules  of  absolute  quiet  at  that  hour, 
the  news  soon  spread  along  the  corridors  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

Cleora  suggested  that  they  come  into  her  room,  and 
lay  out  the  deceased  in  state.  Soon  it  was  crowded 
with  more  than  fifty  white-robed  young  ladies,  full  to 
overflowing  with  merriment;  only  they  had  to  be 
still  almost  as  the  dead  mouse  himself,  lest  the  teach- 
ers should  be  awakened  and  spoil  their  fun. 

The  corpse  was  placed  on  a  stand  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  and  four  of  the  girls  with  brooms  at 
shoulder-arms,  stood  at  the  corners  as  guard  of  honor. 

Cleora  with  mock  gravity  read  the  burial  service 
from  Worcester's  Dictionary,  commencing  with 
mouse  ;  and  Margaret  followed  with  a  solemn 
eulogy  upon  the  deceased  —  his  kindness  to  his  wife, 
being  probably  at  the  time  of  his  fatal  accident,  in 
search  of  food  for  her.  Perhaps  she  was  a  confirmed 
invalid,  awaiting  now  his  return,  alas,  in  vain.  Then 
she  exhorted  her  sisters  to  be  instructed  in  fidelity 
and  to  proceed  with  the  solemn  services  as  still  as  a 
mouse.  All  appeared  to  weep.  Especially  were 
Cleora  and  Margaret  inconsolable.  In  their  extrem. 
ity  of  grief  they  pretended  to  faint,  and  were  carried 
to  their  beds,  where  restoratives  were  successfully 
administered.  Then  with  "  dust  to  dust,  ashes  to 
ashes,  waiting  until  the  next  mouse  nibbles  in  our 
trap,"  Cleora  and  Margaret  opened  the  window,  and 
with  their  hair-crimpers  pitched  it  into  the  dark. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OVER  MANY  LANDS  AND  SEAS. 

AT  the  time  of  graduation,  Llewellyn  Litch- 
field was  in  great  perplexity.  Lie  desired 
to  study  law.  Bat  for  a  year  or  two  now  the 
necessities  of  his  widowed  mother  and  her  fam- 
il}r  required  that  he  should  secure  an  income 
above  his  own  living.  The  only  opportunity 
which  presented  itself,  or  the  rather,  which  he  was 
able  to  secure  after  a  most  diligent  search  for 
mouths,  was  to  accompany  as  assistant  that  inde- 
fatigable scientific  traveller  of  Rochester,  Professor 
Draw,  upon  an  eight  months'  geological  and 
zoological  tour  in  South  America  and  Africa. 
Llewellyn  had  shown  special  taste  for  these  depart- 
ments of  natural  science,  and  the  celebrated  col- 
lector of  cabinets,  on  acquaintance  begun  at  a 
casual  meeting,  felt  that  he  could  afford  to  offer 
him    his    expenses    and    a    thousand    dollars. 

Llewellyn's  great  fondness  for  travel  helped 
him  to  decide  in  this  direction.  He  had  no  idea 
of  idling  away  his  time  by  going  around  to  dif- 
ferent cities  and  countries.  Travelling,  to  him,  was 
a   school   only   less    valuable    than  college    and   the 


OVER  MANY  LANDS  AND  SEAS.  63 

stern  experience  of  practical  life.  To  him  people 
and  landscapes,  social  and  political  institutions, 
the  triumphs  of  genius  in  architecture  and  sculp- 
ture and  upon  canvas,  and  all  the  applications  of 
the  beautiful  arts  to  industry  the  world  over, 
were  books,  a  vast  library  of  standard  volumes, 
inviting  the  earnest  study  of  all,  and  to  the 
thoughtful  and  serious  holding  out  inducements  it 
would  be  difficult,  except  as  already  suggested,  to 
overestimate. 

Several  of  Llewell}7n's  most  clearly  loved  relatives 
endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  give  up  going 
abroad.  They  urged  that  it  would  be  throwing 
away  the  education  and  habit  of  close  application 
he  had  already  acquired.  He  never  could  be  good 
for  anything  afterward.  Even  his  own  mother, 
whose  life  had  been  spent  chiefly  in  a  little  round 
of  domestic  duties,  utterly  failed  to  appreciate 
the  intellectual  advantages  of  the  opportunity 
offered,  and  was  induced  to  a  reluctant  consent 
only  by  the  family  necessities  and  the  several  hun- 
dred dollars  advance  money  which  the  arrangement 
would   place   in   her    hands. 

Llewellyn  visited  his  father's  grave  the  day 
before    embarking    from    New    York    for    Havana. 

"Ah,  father!"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  picked  the 
little  stones  from  the  mound,  and  patted  the  sod 
into  better  shape,  "  when  I  lost  you,  I  lost  my 
wisest,  if  not  my  best  friend.  Mother  loves  me, 
but  she  cannot  understand  this  crisis  in  my  life, 
as   you    would    have   understood  it :   you  saw  some- 


64  SELF-GIVING. 

thing  of  the  world,  once  walking  all  the  way  to 
Washington  to  visit  the  capital,  and  working  your 
psasage  on  canal-boat  and  steamer  to  Chicago,  to 
know  something  for  yourself  about  the  great  West. 
Oh,  if  I  could  only  see  you  now,  I  believe  I  should 
have   your    cordial   benediction  !  " 

After  a  week  in  Cuba,  Llewell}Tn  and  the  pro- 
fessor sailed  for  Jamaica.  It  was  leaving  a  Roman 
Catholic  for  a  Protestant  island.  There  was  no 
difficulty  in  seeing  that  in  the  latter  the  people 
had  made  the  greater  social  and  political  advance- 
ment. Gentlemen  in  both  civil  and  military  ser- 
vice assured  the  young  graduate,  that  neither  reli- 
gion nor  the  missionaries  made  the  difference,  but 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  They  did  not  appreciate 
that  Christianity  is  the  head  and  heart  and  power 
of  that  boasted  civilization ;  that  the  Bible  is  its 
light,    and    evangelization    its    opportunity. 

Llewellyn  heard  of  no  Protestant  missionaries  in 
Cuba,  and  it  was  long  after, his  visit  that  the  law 
tolerated  any  other  religious  meetings  than  those 
under  Roman  Catholic  auspices.  Had  lie  been 
more  persistent  in  his  inquiries,  he  might  have 
found  every  Sunday  while  in  Havana,  an  Epis- 
copal service  on  board  the  American  man-of-war 
stationed  in  the  harbor. 

Tt  was  unfortunate  that  the  social  circle,  into 
which  Llewellyn  was  introduced  at  Kingston, 
was  thoroughly  out  of  sympathy  with  all  mission 
enterprise,    and   largely   retained   the    prejudices    of 


OVER  MANY  LANDS  AND  SEAS.  65 

the  old  anti-slavery  times.  He  was  told  that  the 
English  missionaries  were  a  very  low-lived,  worth- 
less set ;  that  the  negroes  among  whom  they  pro- 
fessed to  labor  were  incorrigibly  lazy,  their  eleva- 
tion a  hopeless  task,  and  their  religion  hypocrisy. 
Tims  he  was  blinded  to  the  fact  that,  notwith- 
standing the  late  troublesome  times  and  lingering 
prejudices  and  superstitions,  the  Jamaica-creole 
peasantry  were  rapidly  becoming  more  intelligent, 
more  truly  religious,  more  industrious. 

One  evening  Governor  Eyre  invited  Professor 
Draw  and  his  assistant  to  dine  at  the  Executive 
mansion.  Several  British  officers  and  prominent 
planters    of  the    vicinity  were  present. 

"  Americans  have  shown  their  good  sense,"  re- 
marked the  Governor  at  the  table,  "in  not  sending: 
any   missionaries  to   Jamaica." 

"How  so,  if  you  please,  sir?"  inquired  Llewel- 
lyn. 

"  Missionaries  are  the  most  dangerous  people  to 
turn  loose  among  a  mass  of  beastly  heathen.  They 
have  done  us  more  harm  here  than  the  cholera  and 
small-pox    epidemics." 

"I  have  heard,"  said  the  professor,  "that  dur- 
ing these  terrible  scourges  to  which  His  Excellency 
refers,  the  missionaries  from  England  were  the  dis- 
pensers of  thousands  of  pounds  sterling  in  medi- 
cines   and   clothing    and    food." 

"  Only  the  sugar-coating  for  the  bitter  pill  we 
have  had  to  swallow,"  replied  the  host.  "  These 
creatures  come  here,  living  on  the  charity  of  deluded 


66  SELF-GIVING. 

people  at  home ;  they  do  nothing  but  build  grand 
houses  and  hire  natives  to  serve  them.  If  I  bad 
my  way,  I  would  put  them  all  in  irons  and  send 
them   to    London    on   the    next    steamer." 

"  I  was  riding  past  one  of  their  houses  this 
morning,"  remarked  "Llewellyn,  "and  noticed  that 
it  was  rather  a  grand  mansion  for  a  humble  mis- 
sionary." 

"  But  we  are  told,"  explained  the  professor, 
"that  these  mission  buildings,  often  for  the  sake 
of  economy,  combine  under  one  roof  a  chapel,  a 
school,  and  a  printing  establishment  as  well  as  the 
living   rooms    of  the    missionaries." 

"  That  cannot  be  so,"  insisted  the  Governor.  "  To 
be  sure  I  never  have  been  inside  of  one  of  their  hypo- 
critical dens,  and  never  expect  to;  as  soon  go  to  a 
brothel." 

Some  knowing  glances  and  half-suppressed  smiles 
passed  around  the  table,  for  the  suggestion  of  the  so- 
cial evil  reminded  of  the  principal  ground  of  their 
difficulty  with  missionaries.  Their  own  immoralities 
were  being  brought  out  too  strongly  in  contrast  by 
the  social  purity  of  the  mission  families. 

When  Llewellyn  sailed  for  Rio  Janeiro,  it  was  with 
strengthened  prejudices  against  foreign  missionary 
work.  He  had  not  become  acquainted  with  an}'  of 
the  heroic,  toiling  band,  had  never  visited  a  school  or 
chapel,  and  had  heard  only  a  volume  of  slander  which 
lie  was  more  than  half-inclined  to  believe. 

Their  steamer  had  first  to  touch  at  Vera  Cruz  before 
turning  its  course  toward  Brazil.      Here,  after  paying 


OVER  MANY  LANDS  AND  SEAS.  67 

their  respects  at  the  American  Consulate,  their  few 
days  were  fully  occupied  in  searching  for  geological 
and  zoological  specimens  of  value  among  native  col- 
lections. In  the  great  variety  of  rich  minerals  from 
the  high  lands  of  the  interior,  they  could  see  evidences 
of  wealth  and  prosperity  yet  for  Mexico,  when  anarchy 
should  give  place  to  a  settled  government.  But  they 
scarcely  anticipated  that  in  a  score  of  years  the  rail- 
road and  manufacturing  capital  of  the  United  States 
would  become  largely  interested  in  the  regions  beyond 
the  Rio  Grande  ;  and  Llewellyn,  at  least,  did  not 
dream  that  soon  Mexico  was  to  become  a  grandly 
{successful  mission-field  for  Episcopalians,  Presby- 
terians, Methodists,  and  a  hopeful  one  for  Congrega- 
tionalists  and  Baptists. 

Several  weeks  were  spent  in  Brazil,  and  Llewellyn 
gathered  a  small  vocabulary  of  Portuguese,  through 
which  to  communicate  with  the  mongrel  population. 
Indeed,  so  successful  was  he  in  two  months  in  mak- 
ing himself  understood  in  hotels  and  stores  and  on 
the  highways  of  public  travel,  that  he  felt  quite  in- 
dignant at  the  stories  lie  had  heard  from  missionaries 
about  the  difficulties  of  acquiring  a  foreign  language. 

"  They  must,  indeed,  be  a  lazy  gang,  of  small  men- 
tal calibre,"  observed  the  young  traveller  to  himself 
one  day,  after  an  hour  of  successful  shopping  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  and  that  without  the  assistance  of  any  inter- 
preter. Ah  !  he  little  appreciated  what  a  different 
matter  it  is  to  masier  the  heart-language  and  relig- 
ious vermicular  of  a  foreign  people,  to  become  able 
to  trace  all  the  subtleties   of  their   thought,  and   to 


68  SELF-GIVING. 

qualify  for  the   clear  explanation  of  all  the  cardinal 
doctrines  of  Christianity. 

When    Llcweellyn  sailed  for  the  African   coast   by 
way  of  Lisbon,  in  one  of  the  Royal    Portuguese   line 
of  steamships,  he*eouid  tell  of  a  great   many  things 
he  had  learned  in  South  America.     He  had  seen  the 
vast  "  selvas,"  or  forest-plains,  of   the    Amazon,  had 
noted  the  delightful  climate  and  rich  soil  of  the   Mis- 
sissippi-like valley  of  the  La   Plata,  had  handled  sil- 
ver from   Peru  and   Bolivia,  copper  from    Chili,  and 
visited    some    of   the    diamond-fields    of   Brazil.     He 
had  hunted  upon  the   "  pampas,"  seen   the   india-rub- 
ber and  the  caoutchouc,  and  studied  the  character  of 
Spanish  and    Portuguese  colonization.     But    he    had 
not  gone  very  deeply  into  the  question  of  the  histori- 
cal contrasts  between  North  and  South  America,  and 
especially   he    had   given    no    attention   whatever    to 
those  needs  and  encouragements  to  missionary  labor 
which  had  enlisted  the  Moravians  in  Dutch  Guiana, 
and  were  beginning  to  attract  the  evangelizing  enter- 
prise of  Presbyterians  to  Colombia,  Brazil  and   Chili, 
of  Methodists   to   Uruguay  and   Buenos   Ayres,  of 
Baptists  to  Brazil,  and  of  English  missionaries  to  the 
Falkland  Islands,  Terra  del   Fuego,  and  Patagonia. 
"None,  indeed,  are  so  blind    as  those  who  will  not 
see,"  and  no  will  is  stronger  than  that  of  a  traveller 
prejudiced  against  the  work  of  foreign  missions. 

A  few  weeks,  and  the  energetic  cabinet  collectors 
were  touching  at  the  uninteresting  ports  of  Western 
Africa.  The  coast  is  low  and  malarious,  and  when- 
ever they  went  ashore  a  few  hours,  while  their  steam- 


OVER  MANY  LANDS  AND  SEAS.  69 

ship  was  exchanging  mail  and  cargo,  they  were  glad 
to  finish  their  bartering  for  whatever  they  could  find 
in  their  line  among  the  natives,  and  to  return  on 
board.  At  Sierra  Leone  Llewellyn  thought  he  made 
a  discovery,  though  history  is  full  of  the  information, 
that  Christian  missionaries  are  good  for  something 
to  the  cause  of  science.  In  Liberia  he  was 
impressed  with  the  enormous  cost  of  life  with 
which  missions  there  were  carried  on,  not  think- 
ing, even  as  few  in  Christendom  had  yet  thought, 
of  preparations  thus  being  made  at  many  points 
ali  around  the  coast  for  speedy  advance  into  the 
uplands  of  the  great  interior.  As  they  passed 
the  Congo,  it  had  not  the  interest  to  them  it 
has  had  since  Stanley  and  the  missionaries  who 
have  followed  in  his  footsteps.  Cape  Colony 
seemed  already  a  Christian  country,  and  the  name 
of  Livingstone  was  honored.  Burton,  Speke,  and 
Grant  had  been  making  important  discoveries  in 
Eastern  Africa,  but  the  English  and  Scotch 
societies  had  not  commenced  their  famous  evan- 
gelizing enterprise  in  the  neighborhoods  of  N}-anza, 
Tanganyika  and  Nyassa.  From  Zanzibar  they  took 
steamer  for    Suez. 

We  cannot  linger  with  Llewellyn  in  Egypt, 
though  we  would  gladly  accompany  him  all  over 
Cairo,  and  from  Heliopolis  to  Thebes,  but  will 
only  cross  the  Nile  and  linger  with  him  a  moment 
at  the  great  pyramid  of  Cheops,  where  an  inci- 
dent occurred  which  changed  the  current  of  his 
life.     The    United    States    minister    to    China    was 


& 


70  SELF-GIVING. 

on  his  way  to  the  court  at  Peking.  His  party- 
was  but  a  few  minutes  iii  advance  of  Llewellyn, 
and  was  overtaken  by  him  when  but  half-way 
up  the  side  of  the  vast  astronomical  mausoleum. 
The  diplomat  and  the  young  scientist  recognized 
each  other  as  Americans,  their  nationality  being 
distinguishable  the  world  over  as  easily  as  that 
of  any  other  people.  Upon  the  summit  Llewelyn's 
replies  and  observations  proved  him  the  best  read 
upon  Egyptian  topography  and  history,  and  the  minis- 
ter plenipotentiary  was  glad  to  draw  him  out  upon 
the  worship  of  Osiris,  Serapis  and  Isis,  and  upon 
the  papyri,  obelisks  and  hieroglyphics.  As  they 
were  standing  together  upon  that  giddy  height, 
looking  up  the  valley  of  the  Nile  toward  Abydos 
and  Luxor,  the  envoy  slipped  and  fell  over  the 
edge  three  feet  to  the  next  tier  of  stone.  The 
accident  was  not  serious,  but  extra  help  was 
required  in  the  descent.  Llewellyn's  kind  atten- 
tions, added  to  the  favorable  impressions  already 
made,  soon  brought  him  the  offer  of  private  sec- 
retary to  the  ambassador  at  a  salary  of  twenty- 
five    hundred   dollars   a   year. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  LYDDELLS  IN  JAPAN. 


WE  are  almost  in  Springfield,  father,  and  you 
have  hardly  spoken  to  us  since  we  changed 
cars  at  Albany.  Are  you  in  a  brown  study  to  know 
what  to  do  with  your  daughter  now  that  she  is  through 
college  ?  " 

u  Not  you  alone,  Cleora,"  replied  Mr.  Lyddell. 
"  It  is  a  question  as  to  the  disposal  of  all  three  of  us 
for  the  coming  year.  Our  firm  decided  last  week  to 
open  a  branch  house  as  soon  as  possible  in  Yokohama. 
I  am  thinking  whether  I  had  better  go  on  and  give 
personal  attention  to  the  enterprise  for  a  few  months.1' 

"  And  take  mother  and  me  with  3Tou  ?  O,  father, 
that  will  be  splendid.  We  could  help  you  in  select- 
ing silk  —  " 

"  You  mean  in  wearing  it.  But  I  have  quite  made 
up  my  mind,  mother  consenting,  to  be  off  as  soon  as 
we  can  get  ready  for  a  six  months'  residence  in  the 
Land  of  the  Rising  Sun.  If  mother  objects,  I  will  let 
one  of  my  partners  go." 

"  You  will  not  object,  will  you,  mother?"  pleaded 
Cleora  with  most  anxious  eyes. 

"  For  father's  sake  and  your  sake  I  am  willing  to 
71 


72  SELF-GIVING. 

go ;  but  I  am  very  much  attached   to  home,  and   I 
cannot  throw  off  the  dread  of  the  sea." 

Business,  pleasure,  and  duty  conspired  to  the  real- 
ization of  the  plan.  They  went  by  way  of  Panama 
and  San  Francisco,  and  in  seven  weeks  from  leaving 
Boston,  they  were  off  the  coast  of  Japan. 

It  was  nine  years  since  Commodore  Perry  with 
President  Fillmore's  letter,  had  anchored  his  squadron 
in  the  Bay  of  Yedo,  and  demanded  official  recog- 
nition. Meanwhile  other  nations  had  followed  up 
this  breach  in  the  wall  of  Japanese  seclusion,  and 
Great  Britain  had  secured  by  treaty  the  opening  of 
six  ports  to  foreign  commerce.  The  Shogun  and  his 
government,  the  Bakufu,  daily  felt  the  earthquake  of 
the  coming  revolution  rumbling  beneath  their  feet, 
but  the  exhibitions  of  violence  at  this  time  were 
mostly  in  the  south  and  around  the  person  of  the 
Mikado  at  Kiyoto. 

The  Lyddells  immediately  secured  a  residence  upon 
the  Bluff  at  Yokohama,  an  estate  they  found  all  fur- 
nished and  to  let,  while  for  the  new  branch  house,  or 
silk  "  hong,"  as  it  was  to  be  called,  the  Boston  im- 
porter rented  a  convenient  stone  building  upon  the 
main  street  close  to  the  Consulates.  He  did  not  hang 
out  any  sign-board  or  do  any  advertising,  for  that 
would  have  deprived  him  and  his  family  of  the  best 
foreign  society.  He  hired  his  "  compradore,"  a 
Chinese  middle-man  with  a  working  knowledge 
of  both  Japanese  and  English,  and  then  bent 
every  energy  to  the  establishment  of  the  new  bus- 
iness  enterprise,    among    customers    he    never    met, 


THE  LYDBELLS  IN  JAPAN.  73 

and  to  the  installation  a  few  months  after  of  a 
nephew   who    came    to    take    his   place. 

At  the  same  time  Mrs.  Lyddell  and  Cleora  were 
equally  industrious  in  becoming,  acquainted  with 
the  strange  world  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 
The  servants  of  the  house,  whom  they  had  re- 
engaged upon  recommendation  of  the  former  occu- 
pant, relieved  them  almost  entirely  of  domestic 
care,  and  every  pleasant  day  they  were  of!  early 
and  late  searching  the  curio  shops,  watching  the 
quaint  ways  of  the  people,  visiting  the  temples, 
riding  upon  the  neighboring  Tokaido,  and  occasion- 
ally going  to  Tokio,  Kamakura,  and  even  as  far 
as  the  Hakone  mountains,  the  beautiful  setting  of 
the    matchless    Fuji  yama. 

"Mother,"  said  Cleora  one  bright  spring  morn- 
ing, when  the  air  was  full  of  the  fragrance  of 
the  cherry  blossoms,  "I  have  so  often  heard  the 
English  residents  here  speak  of  Asakiisa,  the  most 
popular  Buddhist  temple  of  Tokio,  that  I  wish 
very   much  we    could   go    there   to-day." 

They  went ;  but  the  excursion  resulted  in  more 
than  the  gratification  of  Cleora's  curiosity,  even 
the  opening  of  her  heart,  as  it  never  had  been 
opened  before,  with  pity  for  the  idol-worshipping 
heathen,  and  with  longing  desire  to  do  something 
herself  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  light,    the    only    Saviour   of   mankind. 

"Yes*  there  they  are,  as  I  was  told  the  other 
evening,  buying  paper  prayers,  and  making  them 
into    spit-balls,    and    throwing    them    at    Kwanon's 


74  SELF-GIVIXG. 

guardian    idols,    believing   that    if   they    stick    they 
will    be    heard." 

"  Poor  deluded  creatures,  indeed,"  responded  the 
mother.  "  And  yonder,  what  a  crowd  under  that 
immense,  black  tiled-roof!  Let  us  see  if  we  can 
find  our  way  among  them  so  as  to  catch  sight  oi 
what  they    are    worshipping." 

"I  wish  that  some  of  our  Boston  friends,  who 
think  so  highly  of  Buddhism,"  observed  Cleora, 
"could  watch  this  terrible  scene  with  us  one 
hour.  This  swarm  of  Buddhist  priests  moving 
around,  how  hypocritical  and  selfish  their  looks. 
There  can  be  no  parallel  between  a  system  which 
they    represent    and    the   religion    of   Christ." 

"  Yes,  daughter,  and  there  would  not  be  phil- 
osophy enough  even  in  Concord  to  set  off  attrac- 
tively these  hundreds  of  prostrations  before  Kwanon 
and  her  surrounding  idols,  in  this  great  pantheon 
of  Buddhism." 

"Everybody  throws  in  money,  and  there  must 
be  a  large  amount  of  it  beneath  those  grates  in 
front  of  the  chief  altar.  But  look,  mother,  at  that 
hideous  old  side  idol !  it  must  be  Binzuru,  who 
cures   diseases." 

"  We  must  not  get  too  near,  Cleora,  for  those 
sick  people  around  it  may  have  some  contagious 
disease." 

"But,  oh  dear,  how  pitiful;  see  them,  mother, 
rubbing  their  faces  and  hands  upon  the  old  black 
wooden  image,  thinking  that  it  is  a  god  with 
power   to   save    them   from    death." 


THE  LYDDELLS  IN  JAPAN.  75 

In  the  spacious  grounds  of  the  temple,  they 
saw  the  sacred  Albino  ponies  fed  as  an  act  of 
merit  and  worshipped  as  gods;  all  kinds  of  side 
shows  known  to  the  Japanese,  presenting  a  scene 
very  similar  to  that  around  an  American  circus, 
and  among  the  throngs  and  the  various  altars  and 
the  gilded  images,  constantly  those  whose  steps 
take  hold  on  death,  evidently  plying  their  immoral 
avocation  in  partnership  with  the  Buddhistic  priest- 
hood. 

When  they  were  seated  again  in  their  phaeton, 
which  Mr.  Lyddell  brought  from  San  Francisco, 
and  were  well  out  upon  the  Tokaido  toward 
Kanagawa  and  Yokohama,  Cleora  broke  the  silence 
of   a   long    reverie   with   the   exclamation : 

"It  is  a  shame,  mother,  that  Christian  people 
are  so  little  interested  in  foreign  missions!  This 
heathen  darkness  is  perfectly  dreadful.  I  have 
read  translations  of  some  of  the  traditional  sayings 
of  Buddha,  and  they  have  made  me  think  that 
perhaps  Asia  and  Africa  might  wait  until  Christ- 
ianity can  reach  them  without  special  effort.  But 
I   did    not   dream   that    the  situation  is  so  terrible." 

"We  have  much  that  is  as  bad  as  this  heath- 
enism at  home,  Cleora :  and  there,  you  know,  is 
where   charity   should    begin." 

"  But,  surely  you  do  not  think  that  it  should 
end  there,  mother  clear  ?  We  have  our  many 
thousands  of  churches  and  ministers,  our  Bible 
and  Christian  literature  and  Sunday-schools;  and 
what     have     they     here     among     these    thirty-four 


76  SELF-GIVING. 

millions?  What  have  three  quarters  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  world  ?  Ignorance,  superstition,  idol- 
atry, licentiousness,  intemperance,  slavery,  and  only 
a  few  years  when  they  and  we  shall  pass  into 
eternity." 

"But  you  must  not  take  too  much  of  all  this 
upon  your  heart,  my  dear.  God  does  not  ask  us 
to  lift  these  mountains.  When  we  return  to 
Boston,  you  can  interest  others  in  foreign  mission 
work  by  telling  the  stoiw  of  to-day,  and  I  think 
your  father  would  have  no  objections  to  your  sup- 
porting a  missionary  here,  or  in  China,  or  in 
India." 

"  I  would  like  to  support  myself  as  a  mission- 
ary here.  It  would  be  a  heaven  to  me  to  go  to 
these  homes  and  tell  the  women  and  children 
4  the    old,   old   stoiy    of  Jesus   and   his    love.'  ': 

"  You  be  a  missionary,  Cleora  !  What  could 
father   and   I   do    without   you  ? " 

"  Ah,  mother,  what  did  the  Heavenly  Father 
do  without  Jesus,  when  the  Well  Beloved  gave 
himself  for  us?  That  love  unutterable  has  touched 
my  heart,  and  I  would  rather  work  for  the 
salvation  of  the  wretched  heathen  than  shine  in 
Boston  society  as  the  reigning  belle  of  Beacon 
Hill." 

At  that  moment  the  conversation  was  suddenly 
broken  by  an  incident  of  not  infrequent  occur- 
rence during  the  few  years  which  preceded  the 
revolution   of  1868. 

None   were   more   hostile    to   the   foreigners   than 


THE  LYDDELLS  IN  JAPAN.  77 

the  samurai,  or  two-sworded  retainers  of  the  feudal 
daimios.  For  centuries  they  had  sustained  their 
territorial  nobles  in  the  pride  of  almost  regal 
power.  Accustomed  to  exact  for  their  lords  the 
cringing  homage  of  all  the  common  people,  they 
felt  that  the  indifference  of  foreigners  was  intol- 
erable. Many  lives  had  been  endangered  by  these 
high-spirited  retainers  of  the  jealous  and  turbu- 
lent daimios,  and  a  number  of  English  and  Amer- 
icans had  been  cut  down  because  they  assumed 
to  have  equal  rights  with  any  of  the  gentry  upon 
the    public    highways. 

About  half-way  from  Tokio  to  Kanagawa,  the 
ladies'  driver  turned  close  to  the  side  of  the 
Tokaido  to  allow  a  daimio  with  a  score  of  sa- 
murai to  pass.  That  he  should  keep  his  seat,  how- 
ever, remaining  bolt-upright,  when  all  common  Jap- 
anese were  expected  to  bow  with  their  faces  to 
the  ground,  was  too  much  for  three  of  the  indig- 
nant retainers,  and  they  sprung  at  him  with  drawn 
swords.  Too  quick  for  them,  however,  the  driver 
escaped  upon  the  other  side,  leaving  the  reins  on 
the  ground,  and  the  ladies  at  the  mercy  of  the 
infuriated  samurai. 

Whether  the  disappointed  knights  were  equal 
to  the  assassination  of  women  on  that  occasion  or 
not,  Cleora  did  not  wait  to  see,  but  with  a 
bound  seized  the  reins,  and  in  an  instant  was  in 
the  driver's  seat,  whipping  the  horses  into  their 
utmost  speed  for  at  least  a  mile  away  from  that 
scene  almost  of  blood. 


78  SELF-GIVING. 

Mr.     Lyddell    was    upon    the    veranda    awaiting . 
their   return,    and    Cleora's    position    as    driver   im- 
mediately introduced   a   full   description   from    both 
mother   and    daughter   of    their    afternoon's     excite- 
ment  upon    the  Tokaido. 

But  as  soon  as  dinner  was  over,  Mrs.  Lyddell, 
who  had  evidently  something  more  important  upon 
her  mind  than  such  exploits  with  exasperated 
samurai,  followed  her  husband  into  his  private 
library,    and    closed    the   door. 

"I  tell  you  what  is  a  fact,  sir;  unless  we 
leave  Japan  immediately,  we  shall  lose  our  daugh- 
ter." 

"What!  has  any  of  these  upstart  Englishmen 
begun  to  supplant  us  in  her  affections?  I  am 
sure  I  have  not  seen  any  attentions  that  should 
give   us  serious  alarm." 

"No,  sir;  worse  than  that;  far  worse  than 
that.  Cleora  wants  to  be  a  miserable  missionary 
to  these  miserable  heathen.  Why,  it  is  perfectly 
absurd,  and  ungrateful  to  us;  and  who  would 
have  thought  it  in  our  daughter?  But  it  is  a 
fact  that  she  is  getting  the  low-lived  sentimental 
craze,  and  we  must  take  passage  on  the  next 
steamship." 

"  It  will  be  difficult  for  me  to  arrange  my 
business  to  leave  immediately,  but  this  calamity 
must  be  avoided  at  every  cost.  The  daughter 
of  the  Lyddells  becoming  a  missionary !- all  Bos- 
ton society  would  be  inquiring  if  there  is  any 
hereditary   insanity   in   our   family." 


THE  LYDDELLS  IN  JAPAN.  79 

The  return  was  by  way  of  Shanghai,  Hong 
Kong,  Singapore,  Point  de  Galle  and  Suez. 
From  Brindisi  they  took  a  run  across  to  Athens, 
and  then  hastily  visited  in  succession  Rome,  Flor- 
ence, Venice,  Munich  and  Switzerland.  They  lin- 
gered for  nearly  three  months  in  Paris.  Cleora 
could  not  understand  the  reason,  when  her  parents 
had  been  all  along  thus  far  in  such  a  desperate 
hurry  from  Yokohama  to  this  gay,  fashionable 
metropolis.  They  kept  their  secret  well,  deter- 
mined to  divert  her  mind  from  the  missionary 
cause.  They  retained  for  every  night,  one  of  the 
highest-priced  boxes  at  the  Grand  Opera  House. 
Every  pleasant  afternoon  they  drove  out  upon 
the  Avenue  and  Bois  de  Boulogne.  One  of  the 
most  celebrated  musicians  of  Paris  was  engaged 
as  Cleora's  instructor.  They  encouraged  no  end 
of  shopping,  and  of  visiting  the  art  galleries,  and 
of  social  entertainments.  Before  leaving  for  Lon- 
don, Liverpool  and  New  York,  they  paid  all  their 
society  debts  by  one  of  the  most  brilliant  enter- 
tainments ever  furnished  at  the  Grand  Hotel, 
which  was  their  home  in  the  city.-  They  insisted 
upon  music  for  dancing,  and  a  liberal  supply  of 
wine,  despite  Cleora's  wishes.  Paris  was  not  Bos- 
ton, and  her  Puritan  ideas  were  now  impractica- 
ble, they  assured  her.  And  thus  upon  the  field 
of  a  young  opening  life  these  worldly  parents  fought 
the  Spirit  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SHADOWS   OF  SPECULATION. 

IT  was  a  Monday  morning.  Rev.  Doctor  Arm- 
strong, the  talented  and  successful  pastor  of 
the  Michigan  Avenue  Calvary  Church,  Chicago, 
was  trying  to  decide  whether  he  could  rest  him- 
self better,  after  the  exhausting  labors  of  Sunday, 
by  staying  at  home,  or  by  going  to  the  minis- 
ters' meeting,  when  the  following  letter  was 
brought  by  the  postman: 


4 


My  dear  Pastor:  —  Stocks,  in  which  I  have  been  dealing 
heavily  of  late,  are  looking  up.  I  have  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  in  another  week  there  will  be  a  regular  boom 
New  York  Central  and  Lake  Shore.  We  have  the  squeeze 
last  on  Commodore  Whaterstoke,  and  he  must  pass  back  some 
of  his  millions.  I  am  confidentially  telling  my  best  friends 
that  now  is  their  chance  for  certain  wealth.  And  if  you  can 
intrust  ten  thousand  dollars  with  me  by  to-morrow,  I  will  make 
it  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  you  in  a  fortnight. 
Your  grateful  parishioner, 

B.     B.     KlLBURNE. 

It  was  a  great  temptation.  From  no  other  one 
would  a  proposition  of  that  kind  have  had  such 
weight  with  Doctor  Armstrongc  The  minister's 
savings   had   been    largely   because   of   several    five 

80 


SHADOWS  OF  SPECULATION.  81 

hundred  dollar  checks  as  New  Year  presents  from 
this  generous  parishioner.  More  than  half  of  all 
he  had  in  the  bank  came  in  this  way,  and  thus 
far  Mr.  Kilburne  was  suggesting  investment  for 
money    which    was    once    his    own. 

Mrs.  Armstrong  did  not  favor  the  plan  at  all. 
She  was  not  able  to  give  many  satisfactory  reasons, 
at  least  in  her  husband's  judgment,  for  declining 
to  run  any  speculative  risks ;  but  she  was  very 
emphatic  in  protesting  against  their  turning  aside 
from  the  singleness  of  service,  the  economy, 
prudence,  and  thorough  business  integrity  which 
hitherto  in  their  lives  together  God  had  abundantly 
blessed. 

But  there  were  several  from  whom  the  Doctor 
knew  he  could  borrow*  enough,  on  thirty  or  sixty 
days,  to  make  up  his  bank  account  *o  the  ten 
thousand  dollars  requested  by  Mr.  Kilburne.  And 
then,  to  have  no  more  anxiety  about  support  in 
old  age,  no  more  fear  of  what  would  become  of 
his  wife  and  children  if  he  should  be  taken  away, 
no  more  inability  to  respond  generously  to  the 
various  calls  for  benevolence  :  what  a  temptation 
indeed  ! 

"  My  dear  husband,  what  has  been  the  matter 
with  you  to-day?1'  inquired  Mrs.  Armstrong  at 
the  close  of  the  following  Sunday  services.  ""You 
have  not  seemed  yourself  either  this  morning  or 
this  evening  in  preaching.  Perhaps  the  people 
did  not  notice  it,  but  you  appeared  to  me  several 
times   to   lose   your   thread   of   thought,  and    to    be 


82  SELF-GIVING, 

covering  your  .confusion  under  a  shower  of  loud- 
so uncling  words.  And  I  never  heard  you  offer 
such  cold,  formal,  public  prayers.  There  was  no 
feeling,    no    unction     in    them   at   all." 

And  then  as  her  heart  smote  her  because  she 
had  ventured  to  be  so  severely  critical,  and  that  of 
all  times  in  the  week  when  he  was  the  most 
exhausted  and  sensitive,  she  quickly  drew  her 
chair  to  his  side,  took  hold  of  his  hand,  and 
leaned    her    whitening    head    upon    his   shoulder. 

Never  is  matrimonial  love  more  beautiful  than 
when  it  has  become  fully  ripe.  Silver  and  golden 
weddings  have  more  of  attraction  than  the  first. 
Snow-white  locks  are  the  most  adorning  ;  and  as 
landscapes  of  hills  and  vallej's  are  more  delightful 
than  the  smoothly  undulating  prairies,  so  are 
the  broken*  features  of  the  after-years  the  more 
truly    beautiful,    inspiring   and  satisfying. 

Doctor  Armstrong »  did  not  answer  her ;  but 
presently  a  great  tear  dropped  from  his  face  upon 
her    hand. 

Instantly  she  was  kissing  away  the  other  tears, 
and  begging  him  to  forgive  her  for  maid:  g  him, 
feel   so    sadly    when    he    was   so   very    tired. 

"It  is  no  fault  in  you,  dear ,  I  must  tell  }rou 
all.  I  borrowed,  and  drew  our  bank  funds ,  and 
yesterday  there  were  some  fluctuations  in  the 
stock  market;  and  —  and  Mr.  Kilburne  sent  me 
word  that  I  must  double  my  margin,  but  that  it 
would  be  all  right.  We  must  mortgage  this  house, 
or    lose    those    ten     thousand     dollars.     Indeed,    if 


SHADOWS  OF  SPECULATION.  83 

not  now  to  possibly  save  all  and  gain  much,  we 
shall  have  to  do  it  in  a  few  weeks  to  pay  my 
thirty   and    sixty    cla}rs'  notes." 

Two  anxious  business  meetings  were  held  the 
following  evening,  the  one  of  the  Calvary  Church 
trustees  in  the  parlor  of  the  president  of  the 
Jackson  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  and  the  other 
in  the  committee  room  of  the  Illinois  University 
at  Springfield.  The  church  had  lately  built  an 
expensive  sanctuary,  and  upon  it  there  rested  a 
one  hundred  thousand  dollar  debt,  which  Mr.  Kil- 
burne  had  been  carrying.  On  the  other  hand, 
half  of  the  assets  of  the  University  were  promissory 
notes  for  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,'  which 
Mr.  Kilburne  had  given  five  years  previously,  due 
along  from  six  to  ten  years,  interest  payable 
semi-annually. 

"  Of  coure,  it  is  out  of  the  question,"  said  the 
president  of  the  church  meeting,  "  for  us  now  to 
vote  those  two  thousand  dollars  we  had  intended 
for   home    and   foreign   missions." 

"  Well,"  declared  another,  "  we  may  put  off  the 
inevitable  a  year  or  two ;  but  in  the  end  the 
mortgage  must  be  foreclosed  upon  us,  and  perhaps 
the  Roman  Catholics  will  think  that  our  grand 
architectural   flourish  will  make    a  good  cathedral." 

The  Springfield  meeting  was  equally  gloomy. 
The  president  of  the  institution  had  sent  in  his 
peremptory  resignation,  as  he  saw  no  possible  way 
out  of  the  embarrassment.  The  question  of  addi- 
tional  professors   in    the    departments   of   chemistry 


84  SELF-GIVING. 

and  of  the  modern  languages  was  taken  from  the 
table  and  indefinitely  postponed.  Motion  was 
passed  to  notify  one  half  the  beneficiaries  that 
they  could  no  longer  receive  assistance  from  the 
college  funds.  The  library  committee  was  directed 
to  purchase  no  more  books,  and  the  treasurer 
was  requested  to  consult  a  lawyer  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  mortgage  that  was  crushing  the 
University. 

Mr.  Kilburne  did  all  he  could  to  save  to  his 
pastor   his   home ;    but   in   vain. 

"  This  is  the  hardest  part  of  my  failure,"  he 
said  to  Dr.  Armstrong,  as  he  called  the  evening 
before  retreating  with  his  family  to  his  wife's 
little  farm.  "If  only  I  had  not  drawn  you  into 
this   terrible    maelstrom   of  speculation  !  " 

"  Is    Margaret   going   with   you   to   the    farm  ? " 

"  Yes,  the  brave  girl ;  bravest  of  us  all.  She 
keeps  up  her  spirits  wonderfully :  said  yesterday 
she  had  applied  for  position  as  teacher  to  fill  the 
first  vacancy  in  one  of  the  ward  schools.  She 
would  rather  stay  with  us  on  the  farm,  but  feels 
that   a   little   money   must   be    coming   in    soon." 

"  How  about  those  five  thousand  dollars  you 
subscribed  last  year  at  my  request,  for  a  prize 
fund  in  the  Manhattan  Theological  Seminary  at 
New   York?" 

"Thank  God,  I  paid  that  before  the  crash!  I 
wish  I  had  done  so  with  our  church  debt,  and 
the    Springfield    endowment." 

It   was   a   great   come-down   from    the    Michigan 


SHADOWS  OF  SPECULATION.  85 

Avenue  palace  to  the  humble  farmhouse.  He  who 
had  often  lifted  and  depressed  the  Chicago  stock- 
market  at  will,  and  sometimes  had  shaken  Wall 
Street  as  by  an  earthquake,  now  was  compelled  to 
take  hold  of  all  the  hard  and  plodding  work  of 
barn  and  field.  At  first  he  could  not  afford  any 
help,  and  when  Margaret  returned  to  the  city  to 
commence  school-teaching,  Mrs.  Kilburne  was  left 
alone    with   the   housework. 

This  severe  manual  labor  was  a  godsend  to 
them  both.  They  found  that  one  of  the  greatest 
possible  blessings  in  this  life  was  close  upon  their 
greatest  trial.  Health,  which  is  indeed  better  than 
wealth,  they  had '  been  losing  of  late  years  to  a 
very  alarming  extent.  Mr.  Kilburne  had  grown 
very  heavy.  Heart  disease  had  often  indicated 
its  presence,  and  their  family  physician  had 
warned  him  of  the  danger  of  apoplexy.  At  the 
same  time  Mrs.  Kilburne  appeared  more  and  more 
delicate.  Frequently  her  coughing  and  unnatural 
paleness  suggested  the  danger  of  consumption. 
But  the  farm  exercise  soon  changed  these  appear- 
ances. What  all  the  physicians  of  Chicago  could 
not  have  done,  the  barn  did  for  Mr.  Kilburne,  and 
the    kitchen    for   his   wife. 

Margaret  was  very  fortunate  in  securing  a  thou- 
sand dollar  position  as  first  teacher  under  the 
principal  of  the  Illinois  Avenue  Grammar  School. 
Her  associates  among  the  instructors  were  very 
agreeable,  and  her  fidelity  and  tact  with  the  pupils 
made   her   relations    to   them   pleasant. 


86  SELF-GIVING. 

But  she  had  one  specially  heavy  load  of  disap- 
pointment to  carry.  The  thought  of  giving  her- 
self as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen  had  been 
growing  very  rapidly  since  her  grandmother's  death. 
Yet  now  she  could  not  leave  the  country,  for 
none  of  the  single  women  missionaries,  who  were 
beginning  to  be  sent,  had  much  over  half  the 
salary  she  was  receiving,  and  she  had  been  told 
that  it  was  utterly  impossible  for  her  parents  to 
make  a  living  upon  the  little  farm.  Providence 
had  evidently  shut  the  door  of  opportunity  in  her 
face,  and   bolted   it   very   strongly. 

The  life  of  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson  filled  her  with 
an  enthusiasm  which  nothing  but  the  seeming 
home  obligation  to  her  parents  could  resist.  She 
subscribed  for  several  of  the  missionary  periodicals, 
preferring  them  to  any  other  literature,  and  denied 
herself  in   many  ways    to   meet   the   little  expense. 

"Young  men,"  said  she  to  her  Sunday-school 
class  of  boys,  "I  have  a  more  ambitious  desire 
for  you  all,  than  that  you  should  become  Mayors 
of  Chicago,  or  Governors  of  Illinois,  or  Members  of 
Congress,  or  even  Presidents  of  the  United  States. 
I  would  have  you  so  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Matchless  One,  as  to  go  forth  as  he  did  far 
from  home  to  save  a  lost  world.  To  be  a  mis- 
sionary to-day  to  the  thousand  millions  of  our 
fellow  creatures  who  know  nothing  of  Christ,  is 
an  honor  outshining  any  that  in  this  life  can  be 
given    or   taken    away." 

A   letter   she   received    at   this   time  from   Cleora 

ft 


SHADOWS  OF  SPECULATION.  87 

Lyddell,  written  the  day  after  the  visit  to  Asa- 
kiisa  in  Tokio,  helped  to  fan  the  flame  of  Marga- 
ret's desire  sometime  to  be  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen.  She  replied  to  her  friend,  though  the 
letter,  forwarded  from  Japan,  did  not  reach  the 
Lyddells  until  they  were  in  Paris,  declaring 
44  All  aspirations  of  my  life,  beyond  the  discharge 
of  obligations  to  my  parents,  are  centring  in  the 
thought  of  '  woman's  work  for  woman'  and  for 
the  children  in  heathen  lands.  I  pray  daily  that 
the  obstacle  in  my  way  may  be  removed,  and  I 
am  becoming  more  and  more  careful  of  my  health, 
for  I  may  yet  be  the  Lord's  chosen  vessel  to 
carry  the  water  of  life  to  those  who  are  thirsty 
and  dying  by  the  tens  of  thousands  daily  in  Asia 
and    other   desert   lands." 

Meanwhile  Margaret  was  not  satisfied  with 
simply  waiting  upon  her  longed-for  opportunity 
which  might  never  come.  She  was  very  studious, 
to  be  the  better  qualified  for  the  work  when  it 
should  be  assigned  her.  Her  experience  in  mission 
Sunday-schools  taught  her  that  to  instruct  the 
ignorant  and  degraded  in  the  truths  of  Christianity 
requires  more  intellectual  power,  and  resource,  and 
wisdom,  than  to  lead  the  conversations  of  fash- 
ionable life,  or  even  to  hold  one's  own  in  the 
most    cultured    society. 

Several  evenings  each  week  were  devoted  to 
composition.  She  was  encouraged  to  believe  that 
she  had  a  special  gift  at  word-painting.  After 
having  written   a   great   many  sketches   in   clescrip- 


83  SELF-GIVING. 

tion  of  common  daily  life,  she  ventured  to  send 
one  of  them  to  the  Chicago  Globe.  There  was  no 
reply,  and  she  tried  again.  Still  no  insertion  ; 
no  acknowledgment ,  much  less  any  money.  She 
resolved  to  go  with  her  third  contribution,  and 
talk  with  the  editor  about  it. 

He  received  her  very  politely  in  his  sanctum, 
begging  her  to  wait  a  moment  until  he  finished 
a    few   lines    of  copy. 

Meanwhile  her  eyes  caught  sight  of  an  enormous 
waste-basket  at  the  side  of  the  editor's  table,  and 
of  one  of  her  articles  —  she  knew  it  bjr  the  rib- 
bon with  which  she  had  tied  the  paper  —  so 
provokingly  rumpled  together,  and  peeping  at 
her   through    the   open    wicker-work. 

A  moment  after  a  clerk  brought  from  the  counting- 
room  a  whole  armful  of  manuscripts,  reporting,  as  he 
dropped  them  on  the  table  : 

"  Twenty-three  poems  and  forty-seven  prose  con- 
tributions this  morning." 

"  An  unusually  small  number.  Perhaps  I  will 
have  time  to  glance  them  over,"  observed  the  editor 
to  his  lady  caller  as  he  turned  toward  her,  adding, 
"  And  what,  please,  can  I  do  for  you  to-day  ? " 

With  a  little  hesitation,  and  a  world  of  suppressed 
embarrassment,  she   replied  : 

"  I  am  a  teacher  at  the  Illinois  Avenue  Gram- 
mar School,  and  am  very  much  interested  in  public 
exercises'  which  are  to  take  place  there  next 
Friday ;  and  if  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  make 
a    local   of  it,  and   have   a   reporter"  — 


SHADOWS  OF  SPECULATION.  89 

"  O,  certainly,  certainly,  madam  ;  that  is  as  to 
the  notice  ;  bnt  whether  we  can  spare  a  reporter 
from  the  police  courts,  and  from  the  regular 
criminal  court,  which  opens  next  Monday,  I  cannot 
promise.     Is    there    any  more  I    can    do    for  you  ? " 

"No,  sir:    I    thank   you.     Good-day!" 

«  Good-day  ! " 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHINA    AND    THE    MISSIONARY'S    CALL. 

LLEWELLYN  LITCHFIELD,  as  private  secre- 
tary to  the  United  States  Minister  at  Peking, 
had  many  special  advantages  above  the  ordinary 
tourist  or  the  merchant,  in  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  capital  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom.  He 
could  always  travel  in  the  Legation  cart,  in  true 
mandarin  style,  with  driver  and  outrider  both 
wearing  the  official  button,  and  this  gave  protec- 
tion which  was  still  important,  notwithstanding 
the  treaty  of  Tientsin  and  the  recent  convention 
of  Peking.  Often  he  could  accompany  the  min- 
ister in  his  formal  calls  upon  Prince  Kung  and 
the  heads  of  departments,  and  always  he  was 
present,  when  these  rulers  of  the  Celestial  Empire 
made  their  stately  ceremonial  visits  to  the  Lega- 
tion. He  found  ready  access  to  the  temples,  to 
the  English  and  Russian  palaces,  and  to  the  ruins 
of   Won-sho-shan    and    of   Yu-en-ming-yu-en. 

There  were  two  exceptions  to  the  rule,;  two 
places  where  even  ambassadorial  dignity  could  not 
gain  him  any  access.  The  first  was  the  imperial 
or   forbidden    city,  a   vast,  wall-enclosed  quadrangle 

90 


CIIINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY'S  CALL.  91 

in  the  centre  of  the  northern  or  Tartar  portion 
of  the  city;  the  other  inaccessible  "  lion  "  of  the 
capital  was  the  southeastern  quarter  of  the  Chinese 
portion,  a  five  hundred-acre  area,  surrounded  by 
double  walls,  and  containing  the  Altar  to  Heaven 
with  its  accompanying  temples  and  ceremonial 
buildings.  It  was  utterly  out  of  the  question  for 
Llewellyn  to  break  through  the  barriers  which 
Chinese,  or  rather  Manchu  custom,  had  thrown 
around  the  home  or  prison  of  the  Emperor. 
Even  when  the  triumphant  foreign  powers  insisted 
in  1860  upon  audience  with  his  august  Majesty, 
there  was  probably  only  a  nominal  compliance. 
As  the  wily  Japanese  palmed  off  the  Shogun  for 
the  Mikado  upon  Commodore  Perry,  so  it  is 
more  than  possible  that  a  false  show  of  Emperor 
was  made  upon  that  stately  occasion  when  in 
the  park  outside  the  forbidden  city,  the  English 
and  French  generals  and  diplomats  thought  they 
were  looking  upon  the  sovereign  of  four  hundred 
millions   of   people. 

But  at  the  Altar  to  Heaven  there  was  oppor- 
tunity for  Llewellyn.  The  grounds  were  in  charge 
of  the  priests,  and  a  corrupt  priesthood  is  always 
more  easily  bribed  than  the  secular '  officials  of 
the  most  wretched  civil  service.  He  could  have 
gone  directly  in  the  first  day  that  he  made 
application,  had  he  been  willing  to  pay  the  eight- 
tael,  or  ten-dollar  bribe  demanded.  But  the 
responsibility  of  the  support  of  mother,  sisters  and 
brothers  still   rested   so    heavily    upon  him    that  he 


92  SELF- GIVING. 

could  not  throw  away  money.  When  subsequently 
in  the  shadows  of  the  evening  he  scaled  the 
walls,  wandered  alone  over  the  whole  area,  and 
inspected  the  great  altar  of  imperial  worship,  he 
little  thought  it  was  an  event  that  was  to  con- 
tribute materially* to  the  shaping  of  his  whole 
future    course    in    life. 

In  the  Chinese  Foreign  Office  was  a  mandarin 
who  could  speak  English  well,  and  with  whom 
Llewellyn    became   familiarly    acquainted. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  missionaries  ? " 
inquired  the  latter  one  day,  fully  expecting  a  con- 
firmation  of  his   own   prejudices. 

"  They  are  the  only  foreigners  "  —  the  Chinaman 
replied ;  —  rt  the  only  foreigners  who  are  doing  any 
real   good   to   my    fellow-countrymen." 

"  Indeed,  Shung  Ling,  both  parts  of  your  state- 
ment  surprise    me." 

"  We  are  generally  accounted  by  Christians  so 
stupid  as  not  to  distinguish  between  the  self- 
denying,  plillanthropic  efforts  of  the  missionaries, 
and  the  mercenary,  hypocritical  and  domineering 
conduct  of  all  others  who  have  forced  themselves 
upon    China." 

"  I  suppose,"  interrupted  Llewellyn,  "  that  you 
refer  chiefly  to  those  who  forced  the  opium 
traffic  upon  your  country.  But  there  are  two 
sides   even    to   this   question." 

"  Perhaps,"  replied  Shung  Ling,  with  a  most 
contemptuous  expression  upon  his  usually  placid 
face,     "you     Christians    have    a     very    convenient 


CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY'S  CALL,  93 

moral  code.  You  always  adjust  it  to  suit  your 
actions.  The  great  Confucius  taught  us  better. 
Judged  by  his  standards,  there  could  be  nothing- 
more  wicked  than  this  persistent  opium  crime 
against  China.  And  the  same  spirit  seems  to 
actuate  all  other  financial  and  diplomatic  dealings 
of  foreigners  with  us.'1 

"  You  make  an  exception  of  missionaries." 

"  Decidedly ;  that  is,  of  those  especially  who 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Roman  Pope ;  and  this 
again  is  a  distinction  you  think  we  are  too  stupid 
to  make.'7 

"  But,  to  change  the  subject,  Shung  Ling,  as  I 
have  some  business  at  the  Legation  to  which  I 
must  hasten,  it  is  the  height  of  my  ambition  in 
China  to  have  sometime  a  few  minutes'  visit  with 
Prince  Kung,  and  His  Excellency,  Li-Hung-Chang. 
I  cannot  claim  any  audience  as  a  mere  private 
secretary  to  an  ambassador,  and  during  the 
formal  calls  at  the  Legation,  it  is  not  proper  for 
me. to  say  a  word." 

"  They  are  here  frequently,  and  are  both  very 
unceremonious  at  times.  I  will  see  what  I  can 
do  for   you." 

Several  months  passed  before  the  opportunity 
arrived.  Meanwhile  Llewellyn  spent  two  hours 
every  day  with  his  Chinese  teacher,  pressing  on 
in  the  study  of  the  mandarin.  As  he  sought  only 
to  be  able  to  converse  socially  in  official  circles, 
his  task  was  very  much  easier  than  that  of  the 
missionary,     and    when    finally     Shung    Ling    sent 


94  SELF-GIVING. 

him  word  to  hurry  over  to  the  Foreign  Office, 
he  felt  quite  able  to  hold  his  own,  without  any 
interpreter,  in  conversation,  with  the  Prince  and 
the  Viceroy. 

"  Ah,  then,  you  are  from  America,"  said  Prince 
Kung  to  Llewellyn,  after  a  studiously  casual  in- 
troduction ;  S4  and  there  is  where  you  Christians 
are  killing  each  other  by  the  wholesale." 

44  Our  government  is  engaged  in  the  overthrow 
of  a  gigantic  rebellion,  Your  Excellency." 

44  That  is  right,"  added  Li-Hung-Chang,  who 
had  been  the  leader  of  the  Chinese  forces  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  Taiping  rebellion.  4;  And  after 
the  war  is  through,  I  wish  you  would  whip  Eng- 
land   again  —  the    Christian    opium-cursing    nation." 

44  Christianity,"  observed  Llewellyn,  44is  not  re- 
sponsible either  for  the  slaveholder's  rebellion,  or 
for  the  terrible  opium  curse." 

44  O,  that  is  your  missionary  philosophy,"  re- 
plied the  Prince,  44  fallacy  and  imposition!  I  wish 
all  you  diplomatists  would  go  back  to  your  own 
countries,  and  take  your  opium,  and  your  mis- 
sionaries." 

%4 1  should  agree  to  that,"  added  the  Viceroy, 
'4  only  I  would  like  to  have  them  leave  behind 
their  machinists,  whom  we  are  employing  in  the 
Shanghai,  Fuchow  and  Peiho  arsenals.  The  fact 
is,  the  only  respect  in  which  .Christian  foreigners 
excel  us,  is  in  the  use  of  iron  and  steam." 

♦4  That  gives  them  advantages,"  said  the  Prince, 
44  in    commerce    and    war ,    but    I    would    not    ex- 


CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONABY'S  CALL.  95 

change    with    them   oar  superior  morality  and    phil- 
osophy and  religion." 

"  That  is  my  conclusion  after  careful  investiga- 
tion," added  Li-Hung-Chang,  as  he  arose  to  indi- 
cate to  the  young  American  that  this  casual  inter- 
view could  not  be  prolonged ;  "  I  have  seen  their 
holy  book  and  been  quite  charmed  with  it.  I 
have  talked  with  a  few  of  their  missionaries,  and 
if  I  had  never  met  any  foreigners  but  them,  I 
too  might  be  a  Christian.  But  never  now  in 
view  of  the  foreign  Christian  greed,  and  hypoc- 
risy,   and   opium    outrage." 

From  this  interview  it  began  to  dawn  upon 
Llewellyn's  mind,  that  if  China  is  ever  to  be 
Christianized,  it  must  be  chiefly  through  the  evan- 
gelizing enterprise  of  the  missionaries,  and  of  those 
native  agencies  which  are  the  product  of  their 
labors.  After  these  commendations  of  the  mission- 
aries, he  felt  half  ashamed  of  his  own  prejudices, 
and  resolved  that  he  would  know  more  about 
them  himself.  If  possible,  he  would  make  no 
excuse  to  the  next  invitation  to  any  mission  home 
or  school  or  chapel.  He  did  not  dream  that 
before  another  week  he  would  be  compelled  to 
anticipate  an  invitation,  and  to  go  to  the  mis- 
sionaries for  advice  and  help  in  a  great  perplex- 
ity. 

"There  is  no  other  way,"  said  the  American 
Minister,  "than  your  summary  dismissal.  Nothing 
less  will  satisfy  the  enraged  Chinese  officials. 
They     say    it     has     become     generally    known     at 


96  SELF-GIVING. 

court,  that  an  attache  of  this  Legation  has  forced 
his  way  into  the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  Altar 
to  Heaven.  In  the  presence  of  their  fury,  it 
will  not  do  for  me  to  seem  in  the  slightest 
degree    to    countenance   your   act." 

"  Many  have  bribed  the  priest,  or  scaled  the 
walls  as  I  did,"  replied  Llewellyn.  "  Very  rarely 
does  a  foreigner  fail  to  secure  access  in  some  way." 

"  That  is  true,"  continued  the  Minister ,  "  and 
when  I  visited  Peking,  while  Consul-General  at 
Shanghai,  I  stole  a  march  on  the  priests,  and 
clambered  over  as  you  did.  But  it  has  happened 
that  the  trouble  has  arisen  over  your  act ,  and 
if  I  do  not  dismiss  you  to-day,  I  am  afraid  the 
Court  will  send  orders  for  the  withdrawal  of  its 
embassy    at    Washington." 

What  should  he  do  ?  There  were  no  hotels,  or 
foreign  boarding-houses.  He  could  not  start  off 
at  once  for  America,  or  even  for  Hong-Kong  or 
Shanghai,  for  he  had  drawn  all  his  salar}7  the 
day  before,  and  forwarded  half  of  it  to  his 
mother,  and  the  other  half  to  his  savings-bank 
account  in  New  York  City.  He  had  hardly 
pocket-money  enough  left  to  hire  a  donkey  to 
Tung-cho,   and    a   boat   thence  to  Tientsin. 

There  was  no  other  way  but  to  go  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. All !  many  a  young  man,  far  away  from 
his  native  land,  has  been  saved  from  ruinous  tempta- 
tions and  from  blank  despair,  by  the  hospitable 
homes  and  loving  hearts  and  wise  counsels  of  Chris- 
tian   missionaries.      If    for    no    other    purpose    than 


CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY'S  CALL.  97 

as  beacon-lights  along  the  shores  of  other  continents, 
to  save  from  shipwreck  our  own  world-wide  travelling 
young  men,  Christian  missions  are  worth  all  they  cost. 

Rev.  Dr.  Bower,  of  the  American  Board,  greeted 
Llewellyn  as  if  he  had  been  his  own  son.  There 
was  no  apparent  remembrance  of  the  many  times 
the  young  Legation  attache  had  failed  to  accept 
invitations   to    the    mission    premises. 

"  You  must  certainly  make  your  home  with  us 
until  we  see  some  way  out  of  this  perplexity," 
said  the  faithful  Congregational  laborer.  "And  if, 
meanwhile,  you  can  study  our  work,  and  learn  to 
appreciate  it,  I  shall  feel  that  this  has  been  a  very 
providential  embarrassment   to   you." 

The  next  day  Llewellyn  spent  two  hours  with 
his  host  in  the  native  chapel.  The  faithful  preach- 
ing of  the  Word  to  adult  heathen  favorably  im- 
pressed him.  He  saw  that  the  missionary's  task 
was  no  easy  one;  no  simple  repetition  of  the  story 
of  Jesus  to  child-like  hearers.  Questions,  many 
of  them  very  hard  ones,  were  frequently  pro- 
posed to  the  missionary  by  the  members  of  the 
constantly  changing  congregation.  There  was  no 
hesitancy  to  interrupt  him  with  inquiries  about 
opium,  and  foreign  dress,  and  the  comparative 
merits  of  Christian  ethics  and  those  of  Confucius, 
Fo  (Buddha),  and  Laou-tsze.  To  Llewellyn  much 
that  was  said  was  unintelligible,  but  l)e  saw  the 
missionary  was  doing  hard,  honest  work,  and  that 
many  of  his  hearers  were  receiving  impressions 
thoughtfully  and  conscientiously. 


9S  SELF-GIVING. 

Llewellyn's  room  was  not  as  sumptuous  as  his 
old  one  at  the  Legation,  nor  was  the  table  as 
bountifully  supplied  as  that  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed.  He  saw  daily  evidences  that  it  required 
very  close  economy,  and  a  great  deal  of  household 
tact,  to  make  salary  cover  expenses.  Part  of  the 
building  he  found  to  be  occupied  for  school  pur- 
poses. The  daily  conversations  and  prayers  opened 
up  an  entirely  new  world  of  interests  and  respon- 
sibilities. A  little  information  scattered  all  his 
prejudices   as  chaff  before   the  wind. 

One  day  they  went  over  to  the  London  mission 
to  call  upon  Rev.  Dr.  Maundrell. 

"I  have  procured  a  situation  for  you,  Mr. 
Litchfield,"  was  the  pleasant  greeting.  "It  is  only 
for  three  or  four  months,  but  you  will  be  able  to 
turn  }^ourself,  and  to  decide  the  question  of 
remaining  in    China,  or  of   returning  to  America. 

"  It  is  hardly  worth  while  for  you  to  tell  me 
about  the  situation,"  replied  Llewellyn,  his  heart 
bounding  with  gratitude ,  "  for  I  am  inexpress- 
ibly anxious  to  do  anything,  especially  what  may 
be  recommended  to  me  by  such  kind  and  thought- 
ful  friends   as   you    two    missionaries." 

But  all  was  explained;  and  in  a  few  days  Llew- 
ellyn was  off  upon  a  commission  of  the  Dutch 
Minister,  to  gather  from  all  the  treaty  ports  of 
China  certain  statistics,  which  the  government  of 
the  Netherlands  desired  in  the  interest  of  Japan- 
ese trade  and  immigration.  This  business  required 
his  presence   a  few  days  each  in  Tien-tsin,  Chef 00, 


CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY'S  CALL.  99 

New-chwang,  Shanghai,  Chin-Kiang,  Kiu-Kiang,  Han- 
Kow,  Ningpo,  Fa-chow,  Amoy,  Swatow,  Taiwan, 
Takao,  Canton,  and  Hong-Kong. 

We  cannot  follow  him  upon  this  extensive  tour 
of  China,  full  of  interest  and  of  information.  In 
a  land  of  such  rigid  conservatism,  where  changes 
are  so  slow  to  take  place,  although  Llewellyn's 
opportunity  was  almost  a  score  of  years  ago,  he 
saw  nearly  everything  as  recorded  by  the  author 
of  these  pages  in  his  late  volume,  entitled  Around 
the  World  Tour  of  Christian  Missions.  Only  this 
especially,  evangelizing  enterprise  was  far  from 
being  as  advanced  as  at  present.  Beginnings 
merely  were  being  made,  foundations  for  the  grand 
structure  that  is  now  appearing  before  the  eyes 
of   all    who    are    willing   to    see. 

Wherever  there  were  missionaries,  it  proved  no 
loss  of  time  for  Llewellyn  to  call  upon  them. 
He  found  them  better  informed  in  regard  to  the 
facts  he  was  seeking  than  any  of  the  foreign  offi- 
cials or  merchants.  He  saw  that  several  of  them 
were  making  valuable  contributions  to  different 
sciences,  and  yet  evidently  all  such  work  was  very 
incidental  to  the  absorbing  passion  of  their  lives, 
to  convey  the  saving  knowledge  of  Christ  to  the 
teeming   millions    of   China. 

Llewellyn's  heart  was  more  and  more  enlisted 
in  the  cause  of  Christian  missions.  The  need  of 
Christ  in  the  heathen  world  continually  strength- 
ened as  a  conviction,  while  he  visited  the  different 
parts  of  this  vast  empire.     His  admiration   for   the 


100  SELF-GIVING. 

missionaries  was  constantly  on  the  increase  as  he 
studied  the  spirit  of  their  service,  the  exemplary 
character  of  their  lives,  the  thoroughness  of  their 
consecration,  anil  the  painful,  plodding  self-sacrifice 
with  which  they  were  prosecuting  their  holy  enter- 
prise. 

"Why  not  I?"  came  to  him  again  and  again, 
as  if  it  were  a  whisper  from  the  spirit  world. 
"  Why  not  I  ?  There  is  no  greater  need  for  Chris- 
tian work  than  in  heathen  lands.  I  have  come 
to  appreciate  it  and  to  love  it,  and  the  plans  of 
my  life  are  all  unsettled.  Why  not  I  become  a 
missionary  ?  Perhaps  I  might,  and  continue  to 
support   mother   and   her    family." 

At  Hong-Kong  he  received  the  unexpected  news 
of  his  mother's  second  marriage,  and  into  a  home 
that  solved  entirely  the  question  of  support  for 
herself   and    her    dependent    children. 

44  Why  .not  I  give  myself  to  this  great  cause  of 
world  evangelization  ? "  came  back  now  with 
double  force  to  Llewellyn.  It  followed  him  by 
day  and  by  night,  giving  him  no  peace,  until  he 
yielded  obedience  to  God's  Spirit,  who  had  been 
instructing  his  mind  and  warming  his  heart,  and 
leading   him   by   wonderful   providences. 

The  next  mail  for  America  carried  a  letter  from 
Llewellyn  to  the  President  of  the  Manhattan  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  New  York,  relating  his  conversion 
to  the  cause  of  Christian  missions,  and  his  desire  to 
qualify  to  enter  upon  such  work  for  life.  "I 
am  coming  by  the  next  steamer,"   he  added ;    "  and 


CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY'S  CALL.  101 

shall  delay  neither  in  Japan  nor  California.  I 
have  no  encumbrance,  and  have  sufficient  money 
saved  to  carry  me  with  rigid  economy  through  a 
three-years  course.  May  God  bring  us  together 
and   enable   you   to   counsel  me   aright." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  BATTLE   WITH  UNBELIEF. 

MARGARET  KILBURNE  became  very  much 
interested  in  the  preaching  of  Professor 
Parker.  His  polished  language  and  manner,  the 
depth  and  breadth  of  his  philanthropic  sentiments, 
and  his  heroism  in  loyalty  to  his  own  convictions, 
which  had  already  began  to  arrest  the  attention 
of  multitudes  in  Chicago,  completely  charmed  her. 
Though  a  long  distance  to  go  every  Sunday,  the 
attraction  was  so  great  that  her  attendance  was 
quite  regular.  Doubtless  she  received  much  good; 
restings  of  her  wearied  spirit,  incitement  to  onward 
struggling,  clearer  appreciations  of  the  character 
and  life  of  Christ.  But  at  some  points  there  was 
an  abandonment  of  the  old  orthodox  faith.  Miss 
Kilburne  would  have  combated  the  unscriptural 
vagaries,  had  they  been  presented  in  any  other 
form.  But  while  her  attention  was  off  guard,  and 
she  was  dazzled  by  the  light  of  human  genius, 
scepticism  stole  in  and  swelled  in  volume  until  it 
became    a   devastating   flood. 

At   this   very  time,  when   an    experience   of  bril- 
liant  religious   sentiments  was   taking   the  place   of 

102 


A  BATTLE  WITH  UNBELIEF.  103 

a  genuine  abiding  of  the  heart  in  the  power  of 
the  Son  of  God,  the  young  schoolteacher  was 
passing  under  many  clouds.  Not  at  once  did  she 
fully  realize  the  great  change  which  had  taken 
place  in  her  social  position.  She  had  accepted 
the  situation  of  the  loss  of  property,  but  was 
not  prepared  for  such  a  rebuff  as  she  received 
upon  the  boulevard  one  Saturday  afternoon  from 
the  wealthy  Mrs.  Norcross,  for  whom  only  one 
year   before    Margaret   acted    as   bridesmaid. 

"  O,  Belle,  I  am  glad  to  see  you !  "  exclaimed 
Margaret  to  her  old  friend,  who  had  just  alighted 
from  her  beautiful  carriage  in  front  of  a  splendid 
mansion. 

"  Indeed  !     ah  —  Miss  —  Kilburne,    I   believe." 

"  Have  I  changed  so  much  in  one  short  year 
that  old  friends  can  hardly  recognize  me?" 
inquired  Margaret,  with  mingled  feelings  of  sur- 
prise,  indignation    and  sadness. 

"  O,  no ;  the  change  has  not  been  so  much  in 
yourself  as  in — in  —  Patrick,"  she  exclaimed  to 
her  coachman  in  her  confusion,  "  you  may  drive 
around  the  square ;  I  will  be  out  in  a  few  minutes." 

"  Then  our  old  friendship,  Mrs.  Norcross,  was 
but  the  creature  of  circumstances ;  it  was  the 
meeting-place  of  our  parents'  money,  instead  of 
our  two  hearts :  can  it  be  there  was  such  a 
burlesque  ?  " 

"  Societ}^  has  its  laws,  and  they  are  inflexible. 
I  think  I  have  heard  you  are  earning  your  liv- 
ing  by   teaching   in    one   of  the    common  schools." 


104  SELF-GIVING. 

"But  it  is  the  same  Maggie  who  has  often 
driven  on  these  boulevards  with  you,  and  dined 
with  you  at  your  father's  and  my  father's  homes, 
and  with  you  read  many  a  book  and  arranged 
many   a   party." 

"  Is  there  any  way  I  can  help  you,  Miss  Kil- 
burne  ?     My   husband   is   very   benevolent." 

"  In  no  way,  madam,  but  to  hear  me  one 
moment  longer,  while  I  relieve  my  wounded  and 
indignant  heart.  You  have  money  still,  but  you 
are  in  wretched  poverty  of  soul.  I  would  not 
exchange  the  wealth  of  my  affections  for  a  thou- 
sand times  all  the  property  you  expect  to  inherit. 
Changes  have  come,  and  you  are  no  longer  my 
friend.  But  there  is  an  unchangeable  friend,  One 
who   loves    to   the    end." 

Margaret's  last  words  were  not  heard  by  the 
haughty  aristocrat,  who  had  already  turned  and 
slammed    the   iron   gate   behind   her. 

"  Ah  me  !  Am  I  becoming  a  hypocrite  ?  "  solilo- 
quized Margaret  a  few  moments  afterward,  as 
she  checked  her  rapid  gait  and  sauntered  along 
toward  her  humble  boarding-house.  "  My  religious 
words  were  what  they  should  be,  but  I  do  not 
half  believe  them.  God  also  has  changed  to  me, 
and  the  heavens  over  my  head  are  brass.  I  do 
not  doubt  that  Christ's  teachings  are  the  way  of 
life;  but  the  doctrine  of  providence — providence 
—  I   think   the  materialists   are  half  right." 

It  added  much  to  the  embarrassment  of  her 
situation   to   be   the  object   of  the  gentleman  prin- 


A  BATTLE  WITH  UNBELIEF.  105 

cipal's  special  regard.  She  could  scarcely  explain 
the  reason,  and  yet  she  knew  she  never  could  be 
more  to  him  than  a  friendly  associate.  The 
thought  of  remaining  single,  that  she  might  some- 
time go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen,  was  not 
now  a  controlling  consideration.  It  was  only  that 
she  was  sure  that  while  she  respected  him  as 
a  gentleman,  and  admired  him  for  his  talents, 
and  was  grateful  for  his  assistance  in  many 
ways,  she  could  not  love  him.  She  told  him  so 
very  decidedly.  Nevertheless  he  persisted  in  his 
attentions  during  all  the  many  months  of  their 
association  as  teachers,  and  this  contributed  to 
Margaret's  misery  as  she  was  now  too  much  of 
a   woman   to  find   any   enjoyment  in   flirtation. 

Perseverance  in  newspaper  correspondence  began 
to  meet  with  some  reward.  Frequently  her  con- 
tributions were  accepted  and  generous  payments 
made.  To  write  a  book  was  now  her  ambition, 
and,  after  burning  the  midnight  oil  continuously 
for  several  months  over  her  story  of  sunshine  and 
shadow,  selfishness  and  love,  she  was  able  to  carry 
her  completed  manuscript  to  one  of  the  Chicago 
publishers. 

"  I  am  very  sorry,  Miss  Kilburne,"  said  the 
gentlemanly  publisher,  "  but  we  cannot  undertake 
any  more  books  at  present.  Perhaps  the  firm 
across   the    street   may   not   be    so    crowded." 

She  tried  there  also,  but  received  the  reply : 
"  We  noticed  your  coming  with  your  manuscript 
from   the  opposite   house,  and  we  make  it   a   point 


106  SELF-GIVING. 

never  to  accept  what  has  been  rejected  by  other 
publishers." 

A  member  of  the  third  publishing  house  on 
whom  Margaret  called  consented  to  receive  her 
manuscript  for  examination,  but  two  weeks  later 
at  the  time  of  his  promised  answer  returned  it, 
saying : 

u  We  cannot  publish  your  work  unless  you  will 
reduce  it  one  third,  and  re-write  the  closing 
chapters,  and  choose  a  different  name,  and  pay 
the   expense   of  the   plates, — " 

"  How  much  would  that  be  ? "  inquired  the  far 
from   happy   authoress. 

"  Perhaps  six  hundred  dollars ;  but  then  we 
would  give  you  a  royalty  after  the  first  thousand 
are   sold." 

"  How   much   would   be   the   royalty  ? " 

"  Ten   cents   on   every   book." 

"  You  might  as  well  ask  me,  sir,  to  lift  a  moun- 
tain, as  to  raise  six  hundred  dollars ;  and  then, 
too,  for  the  author  to  receive  nothing  for  the  first 
thousand  books  sold,  if  at  all,  and  only  ten  cents 
per  copy  after  that,  seems  to  me  perfectly  absurd." 

It  was  very  discouraging,  but  Margaret  was  wise 
enough  to  use  the  criticisms  which  had  been 
made,  and  upon  renewed  application  at  the  place 
where  she  last  called,  the  publishers  consented  to 
accept  her  work,  to  meet  themselves  the  cost,  of 
plates,  and  to  give  her  a  royalty  of  fifteen  per 
cent   on   all   sales. 

Various    judgments    upon    her    new   book   were 


A  BATTLE  WITH  UNBELIEF.  107 

rendered  by  the  press.  The  Chicago  Globe  con- 
gratulated the  author.  The  New  York  Journal  saw 
no  reason  for  putting  such  schoolgirl  compositions 
into  book  form.  The  Boston  Times  thought  the 
plot  interesting  and  the  style  remarkably  brilliant 
and  polished.  The  Philadelphia  Tribune  said  the 
story  was  very  insipid,  the  style  commonplace, 
and  that  the  reading  public  could  never  be  enter- 
tained   by   such    trash. 

The  most  noteworthy  result  of  all  this  literary 
experience  was  the  introduction  of  Miss  Kilburne 
into  the  social  circle  of  men  and  women  of  letters. 
The  majority  of  them  she  found  to  be  very 
worldly,  and  far  more  sceptically  inclined  than 
herself.  Their  reading-circles  and  societ}r-mee  tings 
and  club-entertainments  became  so  exacting  upon 
her  time,  that  she  first  gave  up  the  Wednesday 
evening  religious  service,  and  then  resigned  her 
Sunday-school    class. 

Often  would  come  back  to  her  the  memory  of 
former  days,  when  she  enjoyed  a  simple  child-like 
trust  in  God,  when  prayer  for  daily  guidance  and 
protection  seemed  delightfully  real,  and  when  it 
was  so  easy  to  believe  that  all  things  were  work- 
ing together  for  her  good.  She  had  not  surren- 
dered such  confidences  without  many  fierce  conflicts 
of  spirit.  But  her  new  religious  and  literary 
associations,  powerfully  influencing  her  at  a  time 
when  she  was  being  called  to  pass  through  some 
of  the  most  trying  of  all  possible  experiences  in 
this   life,  added  to  the   facts   that   her   early  Chris- 


108  SELF-GIVING. 

tian  character  had  been  cultivated  in  a  garden  of 
luxury  and  that  she  had  never  had  any  true 
religions  nourishment  from  father  or  mother, 
secured  within  her  heart  the  final  victory  for 
unbelief. 

She  wrote  frankly  to  her  friend,  Cleora  Lyddell, 
at  this  time :  "  My  old  every-day  piety  is  almost 
entirely  crushed  out  of  me.  I  still  believe  that 
the  only  way  to  heaven  is  through  Christ ;  that 
is,  for  us,  though  I  am  not  so  certain  as  formerty 
of  the  necessity  of  sending  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen.  I  have  not  had  a  special  prayer  answered 
the  last  year.  Nothing  has  come  to  hand  but  can 
easity  be  traced  to  the  unthinking,  unfeeling, 
inevitable  laws  of  cause  and  effect.  I  have  tried 
and  tried  to  adjust  our  old  theory  of  providence 
to  the  stern,  ugly  facts  of  my  present  life ;  but 
have  failed,  and  give  it  up.  Do  not  tantalize  me, 
please,  in  any  reply,  by  indulging  in  religious 
poetiy.  This  life  is  prose,  not  poetry ;  and  prov- 
idence and  mythology  should  be  laid  aside  together." 

On  the  return  to  her  boarding-house  room,  or 
prison-cell  as  she  called  it,  after  dropping  this 
letter  into  the  street  post-box,  her  attention  was 
arrested  by  a  little  company  of  men  and  women 
.around  the  steps  of  an  old  tumble-down  dwelling 
on  a  side  alley,  listening  to  the  earnest  words  of 
a  young  man,  who  seemed  to  be  holding  a  Bible 
in  his  hands.  It  was  Mr.  D.  L.  Moody  in  the 
beginnings  of  his  work,  which  has  since  become 
famous  throughout   Christendom.     Margaret  moved 


A  BATTLE  WITH  UNBELIEF.  109 

up  a  few  rods  toward  the  strange  scene  to  lis- 
ten. 

"  I  tell  you,  friends,"  said  Mr.  Moody,  "  when 
God  says  he  will  never  leave  nor  forsake  his 
children,  he  means  it.  Have  you  abandoned  your 
hoy,  father,  when  you  are  out  of  his  sight  awhile, 
working  at  the  shop  for  his  food  and  clothing? 
Mother,  your  baby  is  very  lonesome  and  often 
cries  for  you,  when  you  are  off  washing,  but  it 
is  the  only  way  to  keep  a  roof  over  'your  heads, 
and  food  in  your  mouths,  and  clothing  on  your 
bodies,  and  do  you  really  for  a  moment  ever  for- 
sake your  child  ?  We  can  no  more  look  up  and 
understand  God,  than  our  babes  in  their  cradles  can 
understand  us.  But  lie  tells  us  that  he  loves  us. 
Do  you  doubt  it  ?  Look  at  his  own  Son  dying 
on  the  cross  for  you  and  me.  God  says  to  his 
children,  'All  things  shall  work  together  for  their 
good.'  Do  you  doubt  it  ?  Look  again  at  the 
cross  on  Calvary.  Can  such  love  fail  to  fulfil 
such  promise?  Can  such  a  heart  hold  itself  aloof 
from  our  daily  trials  and  perplexities?  Oh,  think 
of  it !  Can  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  be  the 
god    of   our    unbelief?" 

Margaret  had  not  thought  of  flanking  her 
unbelief  in  any  such  way  as  that.  She  had  always 
tried  to  meet  the  enemy  directly  in  front,  and 
therefore  frequently  had  failed.  She  had  not  learned 
that  in  spiritual  warfare  there  was  need  of  strategy 
as   well    as    of   heroism. 

Not   long    after,    Margaret    was    taken    seriously 


110  SELF-GIVING. 

ill.  Her  extra  literary  work,  the  unrelenting  trials 
of  her  life,  and  particularly  the  painful  disquietude 
of  her  religious  nature  which  had  turned  away 
from  a  living,  restful,  daily  faith  in  God,  made 
her  ready  upon  the  occasion  of  a  slight  cold  for 
long  anxious  weeks  of  typhoid  fever.  For  some 
days  it  was  very  uncertain  whether  she  could 
live. 

"  Do  you  wish  any  minister  to  come  and  see 
you?"    inquired    the    anxious    mother. 

"No  —  yes." 

"Shall   I   send    for  Professor   Parker?" 

"  I  want  something  more  than  literary  satisfac- 
tion now." 

"  You  have  often  enjoyed  hearing  the  Pro- 
fessor." 

"  I   prefer   now   Mr.    Moody." 

M  Dear  sister  in  Christ,"  said  the  summoned 
lay-preacher;  "do  I  find  you  looking  up  or  down 
to-day  ?  " 

u  Down  sir;  and  that  is  the  difficulty;  I  cannot 
help    it." 

"Cannot  help  it?  O,  I  am  so  glad  to  hear 
you  say  this,  for  God  delights  to  help  the  helpless. 
He  tells  us  that  it  is  his  way  to  leave  the 
ninety  and  nine  and  go  out  after  the  one  who 
is    the    farthest    off   from  comfort  and  from  safety." 

"  That  is  my  condition,  sir.  For  almost  two 
years  I  have  been  cherishing  a  hope  of  salvation 
while  rejecting  more  and  more  the  proffered 
benefits   of   religion    in   this   life." 


A  BATTLE  WITH  UNBELIEF.  Ill 

"  Then   you    see   its  folly,   do   you  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  begin  to  see  it.  But  how  can  I 
realize  God's  presence  and  care  through  the  horri- 
ble life  I  have  been  called  to  live,  and  now  here 
when  by  my  sickness  I  am  using  in  advance  every 
dollar  I  can  earn  for  months,  may  lose  my  sit- 
uation in  the  school,  shall  disappoint  my  publish- 
ers as  to  my  new  book,  and  everybody  has  been 
made  to  forget  all  about  my  continued  story  in 
the  Globe  ?  " 

"You  cannot  of  yourself  realize  it.  Such  feel- 
ing is  the  gift  of  God's  Spirit  in  answer  to 
prayer." 

"I   have   prayed  for   it." 

"But  you  have  set  the  time,  and  told  God 
that  he  must  come  within  such  limits,  or  you 
would    not    believe    him." 

"  Two   years   are    a   long,    long   time." 

"  Not  too  long  for  the  ripening  of  some  of 
God's  most  gracious  purposes  with  us.  It  was 
longer  with  David,  and  with  Ruth,  and  with 
Mary  the  mother  of  our  Lord.  You  are  sorely 
tempted  to  distrust  God.  But  there  must  be 
some  way  of  escape ;  the  Bible  says  there  always 
is.     Let  us    close    our    eyes   in   prayer  and  find  it." 

And  then  Mr.  Moody  prayed  as  he  knelt  by 
her  side,  even  as  so  often  since  in  the  crowded 
inquiry  room,  "  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  the 
righteous  man  that  availeth  much."  He  asked  that 
new  wisdom  and  strength  might  come  to  this 
one,    who    had  been  worsted  of   late  in  the  conflict 


112  SELF-GIVING. 

with  unbelief.  He  entreated  that  she  might  be 
brought  forth  from  this  crucible  pure  gold  for 
the  Master's  use ;  that  she  might  be  as  reconciled 
to  all  the  dealings  of  Providence  as  to  the  plan 
of  salvation  through  Christ,  and  that  even  that 
hour  she  might  have  the  sight  of  faith  to  pierce 
the    clouds   over   her   head." 

"  Amen ! "  whispered  Margaret,  while  the  smil- 
ing tears  in  her  eyes  told  that  she  had  caught 
a   glimpse   of  the   sunlight   beyond. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THWAETED    PLANS,    AND    KANSAS    COLPOETAGE. 

THE  president  of  the  Theological  Seminary  in 
New  York  welcomed  Llewellyn  Litchfield 
with  the  utmost  cordiality.  He  was  very  much 
pleased  with  the  young  man's  personal  appearance, 
his  intelligence  and  his  religious  character.  Evi- 
dently he  was  more  than  a  college-graduate.  He 
had  seen  the  world,  won  some  of  its  battles  in 
a  spirit  of  manly  self-reliance,  and  did  not  come 
in  the  effeminate,  irresolute  and  lolling  manner  in 
which  many  students  present  themselves  for 
admission   to   our   Theological    Seminaries. 

"  And,  $o,  Mr.  Litchfield,"  continued  the  pres- 
ident, "  you  feel  quite  settled  in  your  conviction, 
that  it  is  your  duty  to  prepare  to  be  a  mission- 
ary to  the  heathen.  Why  are  you  not  now  pre- 
pared, without  any  farther  study,  to  enter  upon 
such   labor  ?  " 

"  I  have  come  into  contact,  sir,  with  many  of 
the  leading  minds  among  the  natives  of  Asia,  and 
have  found  that  it  is  not  safe  to  meet  them  in 
battle  except  with  the  sharpest  and  best-tempered 
weapons.      They   know    how   to   handle   with   great 

113 


114  SELF-GIVING. 

dexterity  and  effect  their  false  principles  and 
religious  systems.  I  have  seen  missionaries  con- 
fused in  argument  and  compelled  to  retreat  by 
the    superior   skill    of   heathen   men." 

"  But  then,  the  masses  of  the  populations, 
among  whom  you  would  do  most  of  your  work, 
are   very   ignorant   and   degraded." 

"  O,  sir ,  it  has  been  among  them  especially 
that  I  have  felt  my  deficiency.  I  could  argue 
with  a  mandarin  upon  the  relative  merits  of 
Christianity  and  Confucianism,  much  more  easily 
than  I  could  explain  to  my  servant  in  Peking 
what    Christians    believe." 

"  You  are  right,  Mr.  Litchfield.  It  is  one  of 
the  greatest  mistakes  which  many  make,  that  we 
are  educating  ministers  and  missionaries  for  edu- 
cated people;  that  the' demand  for  thorough  train- 
ing in  the  ministry  is  specially  on  account  of  the 
increased  intelligence  of  the  laity.  The  demand 
is  supremely  involved  in  the  very  character  of 
Christianity  and  in  the  complexities  of  every 
human    soul." 

"  Who  is  the  professor  in  the  missionary  depart- 
ment of  your  seminary  ?  I  know  I  shall  enjoy 
and    greatly   profit    under    his    instruction." 

"I  am  sorry  to  say,  we  have  no  such  professor 
or  department  as  yet.  It  is  a  shame  that  we 
have  not  even  arrangement  for  a  course  *of  lectures 
upon  the  great  science  of  Christian  missions.  It 
is  a  reproach  our  Theological  Seminaries  cannot 
very   much  longer   endure." 


TH  WASTED  PLANS.  115 

The  next  morning  Llewellyn  had  hardly  time 
or  inclination  to  glance  at  a  newspaper,  so  filled 
were  his  thoughts  with  the  realization  of  the  plan 
which  had  matured  in  China  and  then  brought 
him  hither  so  many  thousands  of  miles.  At  nine 
o'clock  he  was  to  meet  with  his  fellow-students 
fur  the  first  time,  in  the  chapel  of  the  seminary. 
What  cared  he  about  New  York  and  Washington 
hotel  and  street-gossip,  When  commencing  prepara- 
tion to  be  a  messenger  of  God  to  heathen  mil- 
lions? Still  he  looked  for  a  moment  to  see  the 
news    from    the    war. 

41  What   is   this?     Can   it   be    possible!" 

HEAVY   DEFALCATION. 

WASHINGTON    SAVINGS'     BANK    RUINED. 

Cashier     Confesses.     Loss    of  All    its    Funds    in 
Wall    Street. 

"Then  I  have  nothing,"  sobbed  Llewellyn,  after 
he  returned  to  his  room,  where  he  broke  com- 
pletely down;  the  first  flood  of  tears  he  had  shed 
since  his  father's  death.  "Nothing;  all  lost!  Not 
enough  to  pay  my  board  bill  here  for  the  rest 
of   this   week ! 

"O,  God,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  fell  upon  his 
knees,  "let  me  not  lose  Thee  in  the  terrible 
darkness    of    this    calamity  ! "' 

He  readied  across  the  table  for  his  Bible,  and 
as  if  angel-fingers  had  opened  it,  his  ej*es  rested 
first   upon    these    words   of   Job. 


116  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Though   he   slay  me,  yet  will  I   trust  in   him." 

The  rattling  of  a  key  in  his  door  reminded 
Llewellyn  that  his  room  was  wanted,  and  as 
there  was  no  other  suitable  place  for  him  to 
linger  in  the  boarding-house,  he  was  compelled  to 
take  to  the  streets.  Here  he  wandered  aimlessly 
for  hours,  till  wear}^,  he  sought  the  rooms  of  the 
Young    Men's    Christian    Association. 

Without  reading,  his  eyes  traced  the  lines 
of  many  columns  of  the  newspapers,  until  his  atten- 
tion was  arrested  by  a  contributed  article  in  the 
Chicago    Globe,    entitled,    "My   Wounded   Bird." 

It  was  a  prettily  told  story  of  a  canary  bird 
which  had  been  singing  sweetly  in  chorus  with 
several  others  of  her  kind  in  other  cages  of  the 
room,  until  an  old  cat  sprung  against  her  cage 
and  knocked  it  over  on  the  floor.  The  little 
songstress  was  not  caught  in  the  fatal  claws  of 
the  monster,  but  one  of  her  wings  was  broken 
b}r  the  fall.  Then  the  writer  tells  how  the 
broken  wing  was  splintered ,  how  carefully  a  nest 
of  cotton  was  made  and  how  for  many  days  she 
had  more  attention  from  her  owner  than  all  the 
other  canary  birds  together.  In  the  moral  it  was 
urged  that  society  should  give  more  attention  to 
the  unfortunate  and  distressed,  and  that  this 
lesson   of  nature   must   be    the   revelation    of  God. 

The  article  was  signed  "  Elfrida,"  nom  de 
■plume,  under  which  Margaret  Kilburne  began  her 
contibutions    to   the    Chicago   press. 

It     was     like     a    cooling    zephyr    to    a    feverish 


THWARTED  PLANS.  117 

brow.  Could  Margaret  have  known  what  help 
her  words  had  been  to  one  young  man  in  a 
far-off  city,  when  sorely  wounded  in  spirit  and 
almost  helpless  with  despair,  she  would  have  felt 
ready  to  take  a  great  many  rebuffs  from  the 
newspaper    editors. 

Greatly  refreshed  with  the  thought,  that  now  in 
his  extreme  plight  he  was  the  object  of  God's 
special  solicitude,  and  that,  whatever  was  before 
him,  God  was  nearer  to  him  and  cherishing  him 
more  tenderly  than  ever,  he  returned  to  his 
boarding-house,  and  early  in  the  evening  called 
again    upon  *the    seminary   president. 

The  welcome  was  not  as  cordial  as  it  had  been 
the    evening   before. 

"  We  have  not  seen  you  to-day  at  the  chapel 
or   in    your   class.     What   is    the    explanation?  " 

The  story  was  soon  told,  and  Llewelljm  found 
quick   sympathy   and    wise   counsel. 

"  I  had  my  misgivings,  Mr.  Litchfield,  about 
your  beginning  in  the  middle  of  a  theological 
seminary  year.  Work  ever  so  faithfully,  you  can 
hardly  make  good  the  opportunities  lost,  and 
besides  it  is  a  year  and  a  half  since  you  left  the 
drill  of  college  walls.  However  earnest  your  pur- 
pose, it  will  be  some  time  before  you,  from  your 
journeyings  round  the  world  and  desultory  studies, 
can  adjust  yourself  to  a  rigid  routine  of  school 
life." 

"  If  now  I  wait  until  next  autumn  to  begin  with 
a  new  class,  then   I   am    kept   back   for  one  whole 


118  SELF-GIVING. 

year  from  entering  upon  foreign  missionary  work." 
"That  is  not  so  important  as  you  imagine,  Mr. 
Litchfield.  Among  }'oung  men  who  feel  called  to 
the  work,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  undue  anx- 
iety to  hasten  precipitately  into  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  at  home  or  abroad.  Christ  did  not 
begin  his  public  ministry  till  he  was  thirty  years 
old." 

As  the  result  of  this  conversation,  and  of  an 
interview  the  following  day  with  the  Secretary  of 
the  Bible  Societ^y,  Llewellyn  accepted  a  six  months' 
commission  as  a  colporter  in  Kansas.  This  would 
enable  him  to  gain  some  experience*  in  mission- 
ary work;  to  thoroughly  test  the  reliability  of  his 
"  call,"  and  to  add  probably  three  hundred  dol- 
lars to  the  income  of  the  scholarship  promised 
him    in    the    fall. 

It  was  very  hard  work  for  Llewellyn  to  sell 
Bibles  from  house  to  house  throughout  the 
rural  districts  of  Central  Kansas.  He  had  not 
known  that  there  could  be  any  evangelistic  labor 
in  America  so  comparable  with  the  hardships  of 
foreign  mission  toil.  The  experience  of  his  father 
in  village-pastorate  had  shown  him  that  the  min- 
isters at  home  also  had  their  heavy  crosses  to 
bear,  bat  he  went  away  to  college  so  early  in 
life  that  he  did  not  receive  the  full  emphasis  of 
such  impressions.  His  new  experience  was  there- 
fore very  instructive,  and  it  became  quite  certain 
that  in  his  future  correspondence  from  a  heathen 
land,    as   also   in  his   public   addresses   daring  vaca- 


THWARTED  PLANS.  119 

tions,  Llewellyn  would  never  say,  or  even  seem  to 
say,  that  the  foreign  missionary  had  the  right  to 
monopolize    the    sympathy    of   Christian    people. 

At  a  little  village  named  Lebanon,  he  was  stop- 
ping over  night  with  a  home  missionary  there 
located.  For  supper  they  had  nothing  but  corn- 
meal  porridge  with  molasses.  But  it  tasted  <deli- 
ciously  to  Llewelhm,  after  his  twenty  miles'  tramp 
that  day,  carrying  all  the  way  his  satchel  of  Bibles, 
and  calling  at  more  than  a  score  of  farmhouses. 
He  ate  as  heartily  as  any  of  the  six  children 
around    the    plain,    clothless    table. 

His  apartment  was  a  curtained  corner  of  the  family- 
room,  with  the  only  bedstead  in  the  house,  fur- 
nished with  a  single  straw-tick,  and  with  a  scarcity 
of  covering  that  suggested  at  once  the  necessity 
of  remaining  dressed. 

As  they  sat  down  conversing  around  the  cooking- 
stove,  in  the  light  of  a  burning  wick  upon  the  edge  of 
a  saucer  filled  with  tallow,  Llewellyn  had  good  oppor- 
tunity to  study  this  home-missionary  and  his  family. 

l*  Where  did  you  attend  school,  Mr.  Suther- 
land ? "  inquired  the  visitor,  certain  that  the  ques- 
tion   could   create  no   embarrassment. 

"  I   graduated    at   Yale    and    at   Andover." 

"And   your    wife?" 

"  She  went  for  awhile  to  the  Buffalo  High  School, 
and  completed  her  course  of  study  at  the  Ips- 
wich   Female    Seminary." 

"  Did  you  never  have  any  call  to  an  Eastern 
church?" 


120  SELF-GIVING. 

u  O,  indeed,  several.  I  was  wanted  in  Salem 
at  a  two  thousand  dollar  salary,  and  I  Lad  an 
invitation  to  Philadelphia  at  four  thousand  dollars 
a   year." 

"  Why  did    you    not   accept    one    of   them  ? " 

"  Because  -I-  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  God 
had  called  me  to  be  a  missionary,  and  my  wife 
felt    equally    decided    upon    that    point." 

"Then  should  you  not  have  gone  to  Turkey, 
or    India,    or    China  ? " 

"  No,  sir ;  it  pleased  God  to  breathe  into  us 
somewhat  of  the  spirit  of  those  Moravians,  who 
buried  themselves  for  life  in  the  lazarettos  of 
Southern  Europe,  and  we  felt  as  if  we  should 
go  in  Christ's  name  into  the  hardest  and  most 
repelling   work   to   be    found    in    the   world." 

"  What   is    your   salary   here  ? " 

"Three  hundred  dollars  from  the  mission  soci- 
ety, and  the  people  of  this  region  make  it  up 
to  about  one  hundred  dollars  more.  We  are  a 
little  close  at  present  in  our  living  expenses, 
as  you  may  notice,  on  account  of  the  late  severe 
sickness   of   our   eldest   daughter." 

u  You  surely  have  some  allowance  annually 
from    your    society    toward    doctor's   bills ! " 

"  No ;  such  provision  is  made  only  for  foreign 
missionaries." 

"  Certainly  something  is  sent  you  additionally  for 
house-rent?" 

"  O,  no ;  you  have  all  your  ideas  from  heathen 
lands.     There  is  no  corresponding  sentiment  abroad 


THWARTED  PLANS.  121 

in  the  churches  to  treat  us  generously.  Thfs 
shanty  takes  fifty  dollars  a  year  of  our  salary. 
Then  wife  and  I  have  no  vacations.  I  have  been 
here  twelve  years,  but  the  officers  at  the  Rooms 
would  consider  me  insane,  should  I  propose  at 
the  expense  of  the  treasury  to  take  my  family 
to  Boston,  or  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  and  rest 
two   3'ears,    or   even    two   months." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  object  to  foreign  missionaries' 
vacations  ?  " 

"  I  do  not.  They  ought  to  come  home  in  every 
eight  years  or  so.  But  I  do  not  see  how  many 
of  them  can  consent  to  stay  away  from  their 
work  so  long.  Here  I  have  a  little  central  sta- 
tion and  ten  out-stations  in  different  parts  of  this 
county,  in  all  of  which  I  preach  regularly  from  one 
to  four  times  a  month,  and  to  leave  my  work  for 
two   3'ears    would   be    almost   its   ruin." 

"I  have  been  told,"  observed  Llewellyn,  "that 
the  home  missionaries  receive  a  great  many  pres- 
ents from  the  churches  in  the  older  settled 
regions   of   the    country." 

"  We  have  had  but  one  box,  and  that  five  years 
ago  from  a  church  in  Maine.  It  is  a  long  way 
off,  and  the  good  sisters  forgot  to  pay  the  freight 
expenses.  The  cost  of  teaming  from  the  railroad 
here  was  fifteen  dollars  in  addition,  and  it  was 
several  months  before  again  we  felt  even  with  the 
world." 

The  next  morning  at  seven  o'clock,  as  Llew- 
ellyn   was    about    to    start     upon     his     daily    col- 


122  SELF-GIVING. 

portage-work,  his  host  brought  him  a  little  bag 
of  silver  and  copper  and  nickel  coins,  saying : 

"  There  are  ten  dollars,  our  family  contribution 
the  past  year  to  the  foreign  mission  cause.  I  will 
go  along  with  you  to  the  store  and  get  it  changed 
into  a  bill,  and  then  will  trouble  you  to  hand 
it  next  week,  when  you  reach  Leavenworth,  to  the 
State  agent." 

In  the  first  woods  outside  of  that  village  through 
which  Llewellyn  passed,  he  knelt  and  prayed  that 
he  might  be  made  the  fitted  messenger  of  such 
self-sacrificing   hearts    to    the    heathen    world. 

It  was  a  surprise  for  him  to  find  so  many 
homes  without  Bibles.  Perhaps  a  third  of  these 
he  persuaded  to  purchase.  More  frequently  he 
succeeded,  after  some  religious  conversation,  in 
securing  the  attention  of  the  family  to  the  reading 
and  exposition  of  a  chapter  of  God's  word,  and  then 
their  permission  for  him  to  lead  them  in  prayer. 

Hardly  a  day  passed,  however,  without  some 
rudeness.  Doors  were  slammed  in  his  face:  dog's 
were  permitted  to  trouble  him  to  the  delight  of 
their  scoffing  owners;  his  Bibles  were  stolen; 
often  he  was  refused  shelter  at  night,  and  was 
compelled  to  travel  on  till  very  late  before  he 
could  find  a  resting-place.  Sometimes  he  had  to 
sleep  in  barns  and  sheds  and  on  the  sheltered  side 
of  straw-stacks.  He  would  not  have  suffered  so 
much  had  he  been  on  any  secular  business,  but 
his  fidelity  to  his  mission  purpose  awakened  fre- 
quent  and   sometimes   bitter   hostility. 


TniVABTED  PLANS.  123 

Not  always  so,  however.  One  night  in  a  log- 
house  lie  found  that  God's  spirit  had  evidently 
preceded  him.  Both  husband  and  wife  were  hun- 
gering for  Gospel-food.  They  had  not  met  a  min- 
ister since  the}r  moved  to  Kansas  from  the  old 
Green  Mountain  St.ite  eleven  years  before.  There 
was  no  Bible  in  the  house,  and  there  had  never 
been  any  praj-er.  Yet  both  had  begun  to  long 
for  something  better  than  that  this  world  can  give 
or  take  away.  Till  almost  morning  Llewellyn  read 
and  expounded  Scripture  to  them,  and  prayed  for 
them  and  with  them,  until  light  broke  into  their 
souls,  and  they  rejoiced  in  a  believer's  hope.  The 
last  words  of  the  happy  farmer  to  Llewellyn  on 
the  morrow  were,  "If  ever  you  want  a  man  to  die 
for  you,  send  for  me." 

Occasionally  he  would  come  across  a  rich  Chris- 
tian character  in  those  far  out-of-the-way  districts, 
a  real  diamond  in  the  rough.  Then,  part  of  the 
time,  at  least,  he  received  more  than  he  gave  of 
that  wisdom  which  is  from  above.  One  old  lady's 
cheerfulness  under  a  bewildering  accumulation  of 
troubles,  her  confidence  which  nothing  could  shake 
in  the  loving  fatherhood  of  God,  and  her  prayer 
with  him  and  for  him  regarding  the  missionary 
purpose  of  his  life,  lingered  for  years  with  Llew- 
ellyn as  a  most  precious  memory  and  a  most 
valuable  inspiration. 

In  one  home  he  met  an  experience  which 
turned  many  leaves  of  his  after-life.  That  clay  a 
letter   came    from    the    army    in     Virginia,    saying 


124  SELF-GIVING. 

that  the  only  son  of  this  family  had  fallen  in 
battle.  The  writer,  who  communicated  as  tenderly 
as  possible  this  sad  news,  was  a  delegate  of  the 
Christian  Commission.  Llewellyn  did  all  he  could 
to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted.  He  also  replied 
to  the  letter  in  their  behalf,  adding  an  offer  of 
his  own  services  in  the  hospitals  or  at  the  front 
during  the  succeeding  months  of  July  and  August. 


CHAPTER    XL 

WITH    THE    ARMY    OF    THE    POTOMAC. 

THE  conflict  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell  with 
God,  in  regard  to  the  foreign  missionary 
ambition  of  their  daughter,  continued  upon  their 
return  to  Bostoji.  They  had  spent  considerable 
time  and  money  in  Paris,  in  the  endeavor  to  draw 
away  Cleora's  inclinations  from  thoughts  of  the 
heathen  and  their  evangelization  to  the  interests 
of  select  fashionable  society  and  to  the  consider- 
ation of  the  question  of  her  settlement  in  life. 
Though  meeting  with  no  encouragement,  they 
resolved  not  to  relax  their  efforts  when  they  had 
completed  the  circuit  of  the  globe,  and  were  again 
at  home  upon  Beacon  street. 

Immediately  they  arranged  for  a  general  recep- 
tion at  their  mansion,  to  which  invitations  were 
extended  to  many  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell's  old 
friends,  and  to  over  a  hundred  of  the  young 
people  in  the  leading  families  of  Boston  and  vicin- 
ity. The  "attendance  and  the  cordiality  of  the 
greetings  were  very  pleasing  to  Cleora.  She 
appreciated  the  intelligence  and  refinement  of  her 
guests,  which  enabled  them  to   pass   away   a   pleas- 

125 


120  SELF-GIVING. 

ant  evening  without  recourse  to  cards  and  danc- 
ing. She  was  unreconciled,  however,  to  the  amount 
of  time  required  to  meet  all  the  demands  of  so 
large  a  circle  of  acquaintances.  Her  conscience 
condemned  her  for  spending  life  so  selfishly.  She 
rightly  judged  that  there  is  a  dissipation  of  cul- 
ture and  refinement,  as  well  as  of  ignorant,  low- 
lived sensuality. 

Among  the  guests  of  that  evening  were  the 
poets  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Holmes  and  Lowell ; 
and  those  other  two  of  our  sweet  American  bards, 
Biyant  and  Emerson,  sent  their  regrets  in  words  so 
fitly  chosen  that  it  seemed  as  if  they  were  there. 
The  Mayor  of  the  city  and  Senator  Sumner  came  in 
for  a  few  moments,  and  the  President  of  Harvard 
University  lingered  as  if  in  congenial  atmosphere. 
Yet  Cleora  was  happier  upon  the»  morrow,  when 
she  had  her  carriage  loaded  with  the  leavings  of 
the  great  feast,  and  went  along  to  give  the  cakes 
and  the  fruits  to  the  boys  and  girls'  charity 
homes,  and  the  flowers  to  the  different  wards  of 
the  city  hospital. 

It  was  hardly  a  month  after  her  return  that  Cleora 
became  actively  enlisted  in  the  work  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  Sanitary  Commissions.  To  their  fairs  she 
contributed  more  of  the  curiosities  she  had  brought 
from  foreign  lands,  than  she  retained  for  her  own 
pleasure.  She  served  at  the  tables,  evidently  not 
to  exhibit  herself,  but  to  help  the  cause  of  allevi- 
ating the  distresses  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers  in  the    hospitals   and   at   the    front.     Many 


WITH  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC.  127 

an  hour  at  home  she  spent  in  making  lint  and 
bandages  to  send  to  where  bones  were  breaking, 
and    blood   was    flowing    for   human    rights. 

"  May  I  go  with  you  ? "  asked  Cleora  eagerly 
of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Tolhurst,  of  Grace  Church, 
who  were  making  a  parting  call  upon  the  Lyd- 
dells  before  going  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
in  the  interests  of  the  Massachusetts  Relief  Agency. 

"  Surely,  Miss  Lyddell,"  replied  Doctor  Tolhurst, 
"you  would  make  an  excellent  companion  for  my 
wife  in  the  hospital  work:  and  even  should  we 
find  ourselves  at  times  upon  the  battle-fields,  I 
think  you  would  know  what  to  do  and  to  say." 

"  But  we  have  no  ambition  that  our  daughter 
should  become  a  Florence  Nightingale,"  exclaimed 
Mr.  Lyddell,  while  his  wife  added  to  his  protest 
her   emphatic    assent. 

"  Nor  I  either,  father  dear,"  responded  Cleora. 
"  I  have  no  longing  to  become  celebrated  as  a 
philanthropist  ;  I  simply  wish  to  do  all  the  good 
I  can  wherever  there  is  opportunity,  and  here 
seems  to  be  one  providentially  presented.  You  will 
not  forbid  me  —  you  have  no  son  for  the  army. 
Please  let  me  go  to  help  the  sick  and  wounded 
sons    of   others ! " 

"I  am  perfectly  willing  that  you  should  give  a 
thousand    dollars    to    this    new    relief   enterprise." 

"But,  father,  I  desire  to  give  myself.  For  this 
glorious  cause  I  cannot  do  up  my  heart  in  any 
amount  of  money.  Please,  mother,  you  give  your 
consent,    and    then    father    will,    I    know!" 


128  SELF-GIVING. 

And  they  both  did ;  not  because  they  wished 
their  daughter  to  go  to  the  front,  but  they  thought 
the  rough  experience  of  such  philanthropy  would 
soon  drive  her  back  in  glad  retreat  to  the  ease 
and  opportunity  of  her  station  in  life.  They  were 
becoming  discouraged  in  their  efforts  to  extinguish 
the  fire  of  Cleora's  foreign  missionary  enthusiasm, 
but  perhaps  a  few  weeks  with  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Tol- 
h first,  among  many  hard,  swearing  and  insulting 
men  would    do    it. 

It  was  along  in  the  summer  succeeding  the  dis- 
astrous battles  of  Chancellorsville  and  Fredricks- 
burg.  The  army  lay  between  Alexandria  and 
the  Rappahannock.  There  were  many  thousands 
of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  the  field-hospitals, 
as  also  in  Washington  and  at  other  points 
throughout  the  North.  Those  retained  at  the 
front  were  either  slightly  invalided  and  soon 
expected  to  report  for  duty,  or  so  seriously  dis- 
eased or  injured  as    to  render  removal  dangerous. 

Among  several  hundreds  of  the  latter,  belonging 
to  the  second  corps,  were  pitched  the  two  tents 
of  the  Massachusetts  Relief  Agency.  Miss  Lyd- 
dell  had  curtained  off  half  of  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Tolhurst's  tent  as  her  own  private  apartment. 
The  other,  which  was  a  larger  spread  of  canvas, 
was  their  depot  of  stores,  in  charge  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Harris  of  Lowell,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Kennard  of 
Worcester. 

Daily,  Cleora,  under  the  direction  of  the  army 
surgeons,    made    her   rounds   of   the  hospital    wards, 


WITH  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC.  129 

carrying  delicacies  of  food,  clean  linen,  papers  and 
•  books.  Many  a  feverish  face  and  hand  were  made 
more  comfortable  by  her  washing.  Many  a  pillow 
seemed  easier  after  she  had  arranged  it.  And 
many  a  time  the  medicine  appeared  to  taste  less 
bitter  and  to  work  more  efficaciously,  when  she 
reached  one  of  her  hands  under  the  warrior's  head, 
and  with  the  other  placed  the  cup  or  spoon  to 
his   parched   lips. 

"  O,  lady,  please  stay  a  little  longer  by  my  cot!" 
pleaded  a  man  one  day  as  Cleora  moved  on, 
after   leaving   a   glass    of  jelly   at   his  side. 

"Can  I   do  anything  more    for   you   this   time?" 

"  No.  Only  yourself.  It  is  a  little  bit  of  home 
again  to  look  at  a  lady.  It  almost  seems  as  if 
my  arm  is  on,  and  I  am  with  mother  and  Mary 
on    the    farm." 

"Have   you    a  picture   ol  3'our   Mary?" 

"No;  but  she  is  like  you,  only  a  little  more 
beautiful.  You  are  an  angel  to  us,  but  nobody 
can    equal   her." 

"Was  she  willing  that  you  should  come  to  the 
war?" 

"  Oh  !  she  was  braver  than  me,  and  said  if  I 
would  go  she  would  work  the  farm ;  and  since 
she  has  buried  the  bab}*  —  harder  for  her  than 
for  me  to  lose 'my  arm.  No  doubt  she  is  in  the 
field  to-day  in  my  place.  It  is  only  a  very  little 
farm." 

"  I  will  write  her  post-office  address  in  my 
book,    and   send   her   a   letter   in   a   few   days." 


130  SELF-GIVING. 

"But  don't  tell  her  my  arm  is  gone  !  Say  T 
was  hurt;  that's  all.  The  ball  touched  me  in 
front ;  tell    her    that." 

Word  came  to  the  Agency  tent  one  morning 
from  the  surgeon  of  a  New  York  regiment,  that 
one  of  his  men,  who  had  been  badly  wounded  in  the 
breast,  was  dying,  and  kept  calling  for  the  young 
lady  Christian. 

"  Isn't   she    coming   yet  ?  " 

"  Yes,  John,  I  am  here,"  replied  Cleora  as 
she    knelt    by    his    side. 

"  You  were  telling  me  the  other  day  of  the  Friend 
of  sinners  ;   and  you  said  he'd  not  turn  me  off." 

"All    true,   John.     Do    you    believe    in    him?" 

"  I    believe   in    you." 

"I  am  only  a  poor  sinner,  saved  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ.  And  I  know  that  my  Saviour  will 
be    your    Saviour   too,    if   you    will    only   let    him." 

"Put  my  hands  up,  then,  together,  just  as  you  do 
when    you    pray,    and    tell    me    what    to    sa}r." 

"Yes,  I  will,  John."  And  Cleora  took  the 
hands  that  were  already  cold  in  death,  and  held 
them    clasped    above    his    wounded    breast. 

"I'm  an  awful  sinner,  lady.  I  have  been  a 
swearer  and  a  thief  and  adulterer  and  a  drunkard, 
and    I    killed    my    wife" — 

"Tell  it  all  now  to  Jesus,"  interrupted  Cleora, 
as  she  still  held  his  hands  in  prayer,  and  noted 
the    glazing   eyes. 

"It  is  just  so;  O,  God,  you  know  it!  I'm 
sorry,   but   that   don't   help   it" — 


WITH  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC.  181 

"Jesus   save    me!    Say   that,    John." 

44  Jesus  save  rue!  There  hain't  no  other  way; 
I    can't  give  you  anything.     O,    God!     O,    Jesus!" 

It  -was  all  that  could »be  heard.  The  eyes  were 
still  open,  and  as  the  lips  continued  moving, 
Cleora  kept  the  hands  lifted  in  prayer.  And  yet 
she  thought  it  was  joyful  testimony  of  another 
soul,  though  with  sins  of  blackest  ^ya^  washed 
white  in    the    blood    of   the    Lamb. 

"Have  you  pen  and  ink,  lady?"  inquired  of 
Cleora  one  morning  a  young  man  who  could 
scarcely  have  been  out  of  his  teens.  He  was  very 
low  with  the  dysentery,  which  carried  off  more 
than  the    bullet    from    our    army. 

44  Yes,  and  I  have  paper  too.  I  am  always 
prepared  to  write  for  the  soldiers.  Is  it  to  your 
mother?" 

44  Yes,  mam.  God  bless  her!  I  do  not  deserve 
such    a    mother." 

44 1   hope   you    always   treated   her    well." 

44  No,  I  didn't.  That's  the  trouble;  and  I  want 
to  confess  to  her  —  my  hand  is  so  weak,  I  cannot 
write    it  ;    so   I    called   you." 

44  Then  I  shall  say  for  you  now  —  My  dear 
mother !  " 

44  O,  make  it  a  little  stronger  ;  I  called  her  4  the 
old  woman'  so  long  —  say,  My  Very  Dear,  Dear 
Mother." 

And  Cleora  wrote  on  as  he  dictated,  his  voice  some- 
times so  feeble  that  she  had  to  lean  over  close  to  his 
thin,  pale  lips  to  catch  his  meaning.     It  was  a  long 


132  SELF-GIVING. 

story  of  unrequited  love,  of  running  away  to  sea,  of 
falling  among  wicked  companions,  and  of  enlisting 
in  the  service  after  a  night  of  dissipation, 

"  That  dark  record  is  all  "down.  But,  soldier,  it  is 
written  also  in  God's  book  above." 

"It  was,  lady,  till  last  night.  But  after  I  heard 
you  praying  by  the  cot  of  1113^  next  comrade,  for 
Jesus  to  blot  out  all  his  transgressions,  I  kept  saying 
over  your  words  till  something  made  me  sure  they 
were  answered." 

"  Then  I  may  write  }rour  mother  that  God  has  for- 
given you,  and  that  you  desire  her  to  do  so  too?  " 

"  Yes ;  and  tell  her  if  I  get  well  I'll  come  home, 
and  that  I'll  not  give  her  reason  to  shed  any  more 
tears  over  me." 

On  return  that  evening  to  her  tent,  Cleora 
passed  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  preparing  to  go 
forth  on  a  very  dangerous  reconnaissance.  The 
colonel,  who  gave  his  name  as  Loughridge  of 
Chicago,  handed  her  a  beautiful  diamond-mounted 
lady's  watch,  saying : 

"  This  belonged  to  my  wife  who  died  a  year 
ago.  If  I  fall  to-night,  send  it  to  my  little 
daughter.     This  is  her  address." 

And  the  major  also  dismounted,  saying: 

"  Lady,  please,  this  ring  has  the  picture  of  my 
betrothed.  Here  is  her  card.  Perhaps  you  may 
return   it  to    me   in    the  morning." 

"  I  do  not  like  to  ask  it,"  said  a  young  lieu- 
tenant, stepping  up  modestly  to  her  side,  "  but 
mother  requests   me  in  a  letter   to-day  to  send   her 


WITH  THE  ARMY  OF  TJIE  POTOMAC.  133 

a  lock  of  my  hair,  and  perhaps  this  is  my  only 
opportunity,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  cut  off  some 
with  my  knife  and  leave  inside  of  her  letter  with 
you." 

Then  several  of  the  private  soldiers  ventured 
to    approach    Cleora. 

"  This  pocket-book  has  my  last  month's  pay :  I 
was  expecting  to  send  it  to-morrow  to  my  family." 

"  This  Bible  my  mother  gave  me  :  tell  her  I 
have    read    in    it    every    day." 

"  This  knife  was  my  little  boy's  good-by  :  would 
you  mind  'keeping  it  for  —  for  me  ?  " 

The  morrow  was  a  very  busy  one  with  Cleora, 
for  many  of  that  regiment  did  not  return.  The 
colonel  was  severely  wounded,  and  every  day  for 
weeks,  Cleora  or  Mrs.  Tolhurst  ministered  unto 
him.  The  sabre  had  cut  very  close  to  one  of  his 
eyes,  so  that  he  could  not  read,  and  Cleora  read  to 
him  frequently  from  the  newspapers.  A  little  book 
upon  crosses  and  crowns  of  life,  written  by 
Margaret  Kilburne,  and  which  Cleora  had  received 
from  her  Chicago  friend  .since  coming  to  the  armjr, 
interested  him  very  much,  especially  when  he 
learned  that  its  authoress  was  from  his  own  cit}', 
had  lived  in  his  own  neighborhood,  and  had  been 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  lights  in  the  society  to 
which  he  belonged.  At  its  close  he  requested  his 
reader  to  pencil  her  friend's  present  address  in  his 
mem  orand  u  m-book. 

From  the  supply-tent  the  clergymen  in  charge 
had  finally  to  return  home  to  their  pastoral  duties, 


134  SBLF-G1VING. 

and  Cleora  was  their  substitute  a  week.  Occasion- 
ally, the  Christian  Commission  delegates  drew 
upon  her  stores.  Thus,  one  morning  a  young 
man  came  to  request  the  loan  of  a  few  bottles 
of   Jamaica    ginger. 

"  Your  name,  please,  sir,  to  record  in  our  order- 
book?" 

"  Llewellyn  Litchfield.  And  if  jo\x  ever  come 
to  our  tent  for  supplies,  I  hope  I  may  be  there 
to   inquire   your   name." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


TEMPTED   FROM   DUTY. 


WHILE  much  absorbed  by  her  literary  ambition, 
Margaret  Kilburne  was  not  unmindful  of  her 
special  gift  of  song.  She  had  been  hindered  from 
taking  any  course  of  thorough  instruction  in  vocal 
music,  formerly  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  school 
and  social  duties,  and  latterly  because  she  could  not 
afford  to  pay  the  exorbitant  charges  of  first-rate 
teachers,  But  her  voice  and  familiarity  with  the 
rudiments  were  highly  appreciated  among  her 
pupils,  and  at  her  old  church,  to  which  she  returned 
after  'recovery  from  the  severe  sickness,  she  was 
invited  to  take  the  leading  place  in  the  choir,  at 
five  hundred  dollars  a  year.  In  the  Sunday-school, 
where  she  resumed  her  class,  she  played  the  piano, 
insisting,  however,  that  this  should  be  gratuitous 
service.  She  was  much  happier,  and  hence  ill 
more  of  a  singing  mood,  than  she  had  been  for 
months.  Her  faith  again  was  strong  in  God, 
and  her  conviction  of  duty  to  missions  plain ; 
yes,  stronger  and  plainer,  and  hence  she  was  more 
inclined    to    sing,  and    could    sing    better. 

"  Miss   Kilburne,  I  have    called   to   make   a  prop- 
135 


136  SELF-GIVING. 

osition  to  yon.  I  do  it  as  a  mere  matter  of 
business,  which  I  have  carefully  considered,  and 
in  regard  to  which  I  am  able  and  willing  to 
take    all   the   risks." 

The  caller  was  the  manager  of  the  old  Opera 
House,  which  was  destroyed  in  the  terrible  con- 
flagration of  1871.  He  was  a  gentleman  in 
appearance,  past  middle  life,  and  his  whole  man- 
ner   was    qualified    to    inspire    confidence. 

"  I  have  heard  you  sing  in  church  several 
times  of  late,  and  you  have  a  remarkable,  natural 
voice ;    but   it   lacks    cultivation." 

"  1  am  indeed  well  aware,  sir,  of  the  lack  of 
cultivation,  as.  also    of  the    inexorable    reasons." 

"  Do  not  understand  me,  then,  as  offering  any 
favor.  Simply  this :  I  am  willing  to  invest  ten 
thousand  dollars  in  your  voice,  assuming  all  the 
risks,  provided  you  will  give  me  a  paper, 
agreeing,  after  the  completion  of  a  two  }^ears'  course 
of  instruction  in  Europe,  to  sing  under  my  manage- 
ment for  five  years,  at  terms  that  shall  appear 
mutually  satisfactory  at  the  close  of  the  first  season." 

"  Your  offer,  sir,  is  very  complimentary,  and  I 
cannot  help  giving  it  careful  thought." 

"  Pardon  me,  Miss  Kilburne,  if  I  add  another 
consideration.  Your  former  residence  upon  Michigan 
avenue  has  lately  come  into  my  possession.  1  do 
not  intend  to  occupy  it ;  only  an  investment.  If 
it  would  be  pleasing  to  you  to  have  your  parents 
again  reside  there  eventually,  I  will  arrange  that 
this   property   shall   be   your   savings  bank." 


TEMPTED  FBOM  DUTY.  137 

"Indeed,  it  is  a  beautiful  castle  in  Utopia  which 
you  have  built  for  me,  sir.  Your  proposition 
almost  takes  my  breath  away.  I  fear  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  consider  the  question  as  judiciously 
and    conscientiously    as    I    should." 

The  day  following,  while  this  matter  was  still 
undecided  in  her  own  mind,  Margaret  had  occasion 
to  call  at  the  office  of  the  Chicago  Revietv,  to 
leave  a  notice  she  had  written  of  a  new  book 
which    the    editor   had    sent    her   for  examination. 

"  May  I  detain  you  a  few  moments  longer, 
Miss  Kilburne  ?  I  wish  to  speak  with  you  regard- 
ing a  permanent  employment,  for  which  you  have 
shown    special    qualification." 

"I  wonder,"  thought  Margaret  to  herself  as  she 
followed  him  into  his  sanctum,  "if  he  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  this  singing  business.  Perhaps 
he  knows  of  my  offer,  and  is  the  good  angel  to 
warn  me  against  going  even  upon  the  opera 
stage." 

"  I  can  afford,"  continued  the  editor  after  they 
were  seated,  "  to  give  you  twice  the  salary  jo\x  are 
now  receiving  as  schoolteacher,  if  you  will  devote 
all  your  time  to  one  of  the  literary  depart- 
ments   of   my   paper." 

"  My  singing  in  church  could  not  interfere,  I 
suppose,    with   the    duties   you    suggest  ? " 

"  Oh,    no  !     At   least   it   should    not." 

"  Would  you  be  willing,  sir,  to  engage  me  for 
a  year?  I  may  by  that  time  have  more  pressing 
duties    that   may    call    me    away   from    Chicago." 


138  SELF-GIVING. 

The  editor  kept  his  thoughts  of  explanation  to 
himself,  and  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman  even 
to  cast  a  single  inquiring  glance  at  the  modest, 
frank  young  lady.  Yet  lie  assumed  that  he  had 
discovered  matrimonial  rocks  ahead,  which  prob- 
ably   would   wreck    his    enterprise. 

"  It  would  hardly  answer  to  consider  so  brief 
an  engagement,"  he  replied.  "  It  would  take  several 
weeks  for  you  to  get  your  work  well  in  hand, 
and  there  would  be  the  liability  of  various  dis- 
tractions toward  the  close  of  the  year.  I  should 
feel  it  necessary  to  be  reasonably  certain  that 
your  services  were  secured  for  three  or  four 
years." 

A  week  of  great  mental  agitation,  which  almost 
drove  Margaret  to  distraction,  followed  these  two 
honorable    business    offers. 

"  He  does  not  ask  me  to  be  a  theatrical  per- 
former, but  a  singer  in  opera.  That  sounds  very 
differently;  is  it  really  so?  Perhaps  the  morals 
are  no  better ;  only  a  little  more  varnish  of 
refinement.  To  own  again  that  beautiful  house 
which  father  built,  and  in  the  elegant  dining-room 
to  see  him  at  one  end  of  the  table  and  mother  at 
the  other,  oh  !  it  would  be  glorious.  Perhaps  Mrs; 
Norcross  would  call  upon  me  again  ;  ha,  ha  !  A 
star,  he  thinks  I  will  be.  Quite  likely  he  is 
mistaken  :  many  men  are,  even  in  investing  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Father  was  with  quarter  of  a 
million.  But  what  would  become  of  my  princi- 
ples—  my  missionary  interest?     Perhaps  I  could   be 


TEMPTED  FROM  DUTY.  139 

a  missionary  to  the  profession.  I  would  sing  pure 
and  religious  songs.  No ;  then  they  would  not  listen. 
I  must  pander  to  polite  sensuality  in  my  words, 
and  gestures,  and  dress.  Am  I  ready  for  this  ? 
No  ;  but  such  glittering  prizes!  That  literary  offer 
is  not  so  dazzling,  but  it  is  complimentary.  I 
would  not  have  to  soil  my  character,  nor  com- 
promise my  religious  principles.  But  the  hope  of 
going  next  year  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen 
would    have    to    be    abandoned." 

This  battle  went  on  day  after  day  in  the 
hidden  life  of  Margaret  Kilburne.  Indeed,  more 
than  one  night  the  morning's  dawn  found  her 
without  having  had  a  moment's  slumber  amid 
these  clashings  of  worldly  interests  against  the  con- 
viction that  it  was  her  duty  to  hold  herself  on 
call    to    be    a    foreign    missionary. 

But  the  memory  of  Antoinette  at  Yonkers  was 
ever  before  her.  Providentially,  her  Bible-reading 
in  course  brought  her  at  this  time  to  the  sad 
record  of  Jonah  fleeing  from  Nineveh.  Moreover, 
the  wisdom  of  that  long-trying  sickness  was  now 
very  plain,  in  that  her  religious  principles,  though 
bending  far  and  swaying  violently,  did  not  break. 
Before  that  experience,  to  either  one  of  these 
temptations  she  would  have  yielded.  Then  she 
would  have  dragged  her  anchor;  now  it  held 
within    the    vail. 

Never  had  Margaret's  face  shone  more  bril- 
liantly ;  never  had  her  heart  been  filled  with  more 
peace     and    joy,     than     when     one      morning     she 


J  40  SELF-GIVING. 

mailed  the  letters  which  politety  declined  both 
offers,  on  the  ground  of  conscientious  obligation 
to  the  cause  of  foreign  missions,  and  then  started 
for  her  comparatively  humble  school-work,  exclaim- 
ing in  thoughts  which  were  heard  above:  " Thanks, 
O,  God,  unto  thee,  for  having  given  me  the 
victory    through   my    Lord    Jesus    Christ ! " 

Margaret  did  not  know  that  another  lion  was 
lurking  in  her  path.  She  little  dreamed  that  in 
a  few  months  she  should  be  still  more  severely 
tried,  and  that  her  conviction  of  duty  in  foreign 
lands  would  require  more  consecration,  and  heroism, 
and  faith  in  God.  It  was  well  she  did  not  antic- 
ipate it,  or  she  could  not  have  won  in  the  last 
battle. 

After  the  singing  and  the  literary  temptations 
had  passed,  Margaret  entered  with  a  great  deal 
of  enthusiasm  into  the  home-work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions. She  had  read  for  years  the  Society's  reports 
and  periodicals,  and  supposed  that  there  could  be 
no  friction,  no  manifestations  of  self-interest  — 
nothing  mean  and  underhanded  in  either  the 
home  or  foreign  departments  of  labor,  professedly 
so  self-abnegating,  so  purely  philanthropic  so  Christ- 
like. 

As  treasurer  of  the  Woman's  Mission  Circle  in 
her  church,  Margaret  called  upon  a  missionary 
sister  from  India,  the  evening  after  their  quarterly 
meeting,  to  pay  her  ten  dollars,  to  cover  all  her 
expenses,  and  five  dollars  additional  for  coming  to 
address    them. 


TEMPTED  FROM  DUTY.  141 

"  Mrs.  Hammond,  you  must  know  Mrs.  Lyton, 
of  Madras,  the  Wesleyan  missionary  ;  I  believe  she 
is   your   next   door    neighbor?" 

"  O,  yes,  Miss    Kilburne,  I    know  her   by  sight." 

"Indeed!" 

"  She  assumes  too  many  airs ;  at  the  same 
time  is  not  consistent,  for  she  pets  the  Euro- 
sians." 

"  You   surprise    me." 

"  Yes ;  and  she  had  a  party  once,  and  did  not 
even  invite  me.  And  she  has  a  little  more  money 
than  we  have,  and  has  enticed  some  of  our  best 
girls  away  by  giving  them  more  help  than  we  can 
afford.  Besides,  hei  husband  is  not  a  perfect 
gentleman.     And  that   eldest   daughter  " — 

"  Excuse  me,  Mrs.  Hammond,  I  have  an 
engagement,  and  cannot  delay  another  minute,  " 
interrupted  Margaret  ;  and  half-stimnecl  with  the 
revelation  of  the  possibility  of  such  social  life 
among  any  consecrated  foreign  missionaries,  she 
walked  to  the  corner  and  hailed  a  passing  street- 
car. 

*  One  day  there  was  a  lady  caller  at  her  school, 
who  lingered  after  the  pupils  were  dismissed,  and 
introduced  herself  as  a  returned  missionary  from 
Asia. 

"Under  what  society,  Mrs.  Carlyle  ? "  inquired 
Margaret. 

"  We  have  been  under  the  American  Board, 
but,  thank  Heaven !  we  are  no  longer  in  such 
slavery." 


142         *  SELF-GIVING. 

"What  can  I  do  for  you,  Mrs,  Carlyle?" 

"I  under. stand  you  write  for  several  promi- 
nent papers  in  Chicago,  and  I  want  you  to  show 
up  the  cruel  tyranny  of  those  Boston  brethren, 
and  to  advocate  our  plan  for  a  grand  school- 
building  at  Konumkolun,  only  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  north  of  Madelikara,  on  the  Malabar 
coast.'' 

"  Do  not  '  the  Rooms '  agree  with  you  as  to 
the  necessity  of  this  institution?" 

4<No;  they  say  our  plan  is  premature.  But 
they  appropriate  largely  to  other  stations.  I  would 
like  to  know  if  that  is  fair  treatment !  We  ask 
only  twenty-five  thousand  dollars." 

"  That  is  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  its  appro- 
priation deserves  the  utmost  possible  of  informa- 
tion, deliberation  and  wisdom." 

"  But  we  have  been  there  for  nine  years,  and 
we  know,  all  about  it.  We  have  written  whole 
quires  of  letters  of  explanation  and  urgency;  but 
no  use.  So  the  Lord  has  laid  it  upon  us  to 
make  this  thing  go  ourselves.  We  have  come 
home    to   beg   the    money  all    over  the    country." 

"  It    is    a    free  country." 

"  Yes,  thank  Heaven  !  and  when  we  have  our 
grand  building  erected,  we  will  offer  the  deed  to 
the  Societ}r,  on  condition  that  i  the  Rooms'  ask 
pardon  for  not  complying  with  our  request,  and 
at  the  time  invest  fifty  thousand  dollars  as  an 
endowment    for  the    school." 

Margaret   wrote    nothing    as    requested ;    and   if 


TEMPTED  FROM  DUTY.  143 

she  had,  the  editor  undoubtedly  would  have  thrown 
it  into  his  waste-basket.  She  was  the  more  bewil- 
dered regarding  the  subject  of  Christian  Missions. 
To  contend  with  heathenism  was  enough,  without 
such  clashings.  She  had  thought  that  the  spirit 
of  missionary  consecration  was  equal  to  the  avoid- 
ance of  any  such  trouble.  Perhaps  the  Society 
was  wrong ;  but  then  it  could  not  be  right  to 
strive  to  create  such  distrust  and  discord  among 
the  home  churches.  Margaret  had  thought  that 
foreign  missionaries  were  vastly  more  Christ-like 
in  temperament  and  all  wisdom  than  even  the 
best  of  the  home  ministry  and  laity,  and  was  dis- 
covering  her  mistake. 

The  Sunday  following  Margaret  went  to  church, 
hardly  in  a  spirit  to  lead  the  singing  of  the 
choir.  Her  bright  anticipations  of  the  compan- 
ionship of  almost  perfect  co-laborers  in  the  far- 
off  lands,  were  clouded.  It  was,  after  all,  very 
much  like  taking  hold  of  any  kind  of  mission- 
work  at  home,  with  pastor  and  deacons  and  Sun- 
day-school   superintendent. 

The  time  had  come  «for  service  to  begin.  The 
congregation  was  still  scattering,  people  coming 
in  all  the  while,  especially  those  who  wished  to 
make  a  show  of  their  fine  clothing.  A  young 
stranger  was  in  the  pulpit,  evidently  anxious  for 
the  organist  to  waste  no  more  time  with  his  elab- 
orate prelude.  But  the  tenor  and  alto  were  not 
quite  through  with  a  little  Sunday-morning  flirta- 
tion   behind   the    curtain. 


144  8EL  F-GIVING. 

While  Margaret  was  singing,  she  noticed  pass- 
ing up  the  middle  aisle  toward  the  pulpit,  Rev. 
Dr.  Trobridge,  the  well-known  corresponding  sec- 
retary of  the  Samaritan  Foreign  Mission  Society. 
She  knew  that  he  was  to  deliver  an  address  that 
afternoon  at  the  Clark  Street  Tabernacle,  for 
which  special  purpose  he  had  come  from  Phila- 
delphia. 

She  saw  that  both  the  Mission-secretary  and 
the  3'oung  clergyman  (probably  a  student  from 
the  seminary)  were  surprised  at  meeting  each 
other  behind  the  desk.  But  after  a  few  words 
of  whispered  conversation,  the  venerable  and 
stately  doctor  of  divinity  leaned  back  comfortably 
in  his  great  cushioned  chair,  and  the  3'oung  man 
conducted    all    the    services    of   the    hour. 

Margaret  enjoyed  the  sermon,  although  it  was 
a    little    bookish    and    school-fashioned. 

"Poor  fellow,''  she  thought,  "you  have  worked 
hard  over  that  essay  on  faith.  Perhaps  you  sat 
up  all  last  night,  for  you  are  very  pale.  Last 
Wednesday,  for  the  next  morning's  paper,  I  burnt 
the  midnight  oil  over  about  the  same  amount  of 
manuscript  you  have  there  before  you.  I  think 
you  must  be  very  poor,  for  your  clothes  are  so 
seedy.  Perhaps  you  have  not  had  a  good  piece 
of  beefsteak  for  a  week.  I  am  really  glad  you 
were  in  the  pulpit  first,  so  as  to  do  the  work 
and   get   the   supply-money  to-day." 

Margaret  lingered  after  service  to  speak  with 
Doctor  Trobridge,  and  tell  him  she  would  certainly 


TEMPTED  FROM  DUTY.  145 

hear  him  in  the  afternoon,  but  for  her  Sunday-school 
duties.  Then  she  went  up  to  the  gallery  to  get  her 
music  and  put  on  her  rubbers,  and  in  about  ten 
minutes  was  passing  noiselessly  out  through  the 
spacious  church  vestibule.  She  was  not  to  blame 
for  hearing  the  church-treasurer  and  a  deacon  a 
moment  in  conversation. 

"  You  say  }7ou  handed  the  twenty-five  dollars  to 
Doctor  Trob  rid  ge  ?  ' ' 

u  Yes,  deacon  ;  I  thought  it  would  be  a  real 
privilege,  as  well  as  a  courtesy,  for  him  to  hand 
it    over    to    the    young    man." 

"  Who  would  have  thought  that,  with  his 
salary  of  three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  he  could 
quietly  have  pocketed  our  supply  money,  and 
have  left  the  young  man  entirely  out  in  the 
cold." 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Margaret,  stepping  up  to  the 
surprised  corner,  "  I  did  not  mean  to  hear  you,  but  I 
could  not  help  it.  I  have  earned,  from  }rou  this 
morning  five  dollars ;  please  see  that  this,  at  least, 
is  sent  this  afternoon  to  the  cruelly-treated  young 
man." 

44 1  never,  never,  never  will  be  a  missionary ! " 
exclaimed  Margaret,  as  she  went  stamping  her 
little  feet  *  down  the  church  steps.  "  To  think 
that  a  leader  in  the  cause  of  foreign  missions 
should  be  so  selfish,  so  mean!  He  might  have 
divided,  anyway,  if  there  was  some  misunder- 
standing about  the  supply.  Who  is  that  yonder? 
Ah!  my  old   friend,,  the   Illinois   District   Secretary 


146  SELF-GIVING. 

of  Presbyterian  Foreign  Missions.  I  do  not  want 
to  see  any  more  of  his  stripe.  I  will  cross  the 
street   here." 

"  O,  Miss  Kilburne ! "  exclaimed  the  panting 
Doctor  Thompson,  who  came  hurriedly  following 
her,  "we  wish  you  to  sing —  What,  crying!  Dear 
soul,  what  is  the  matter  ? " 

"  I  have  no  more  heart  ever  to  be  a  missionary. 
I  have  made  an  idol  of  the  workers,  and  God  has 
broken  it  into  pieces." 

"I  am  glad  of  it,  Margaret.  You  had  forgotten 
that  God  chooses  weak,  earthen  vessels  for  his 
service.  This  must  be  wise  in  him  abroad  as 
well  as  at  home.  Has  not  your  judgment  often 
been  convinced  that  God  was  right  in  selecting 
Peter?" 

"  Yes,    I   know  ;    I   know  "  — 

"Only  in  part,  Margaret;  now  as .  through  a 
darkened  glass.  By  and  by  we  shall  see  clearly 
why  so  much  imperfection  is  allowed  in  the  best 
of  men   and   women." 

"  Yes,  Doctor  Thompson  ;  I  love  to  sing  of  that 
4  Sweet  l^y  and  by.'  We  have  it  as  the  opening 
piece  this  evening." 

"  Yes,  indeed,  Margaret ;  but  do  not  think  it 
must  all  be  bitterness  here.  Even  thesa  cups  you 
are  drinking  Christ  can  sweeten.  All  earthly  dis- 
appointments drive  us  nearer  to  God.  In  my 
work  here  in  Chicago,  I  know  my  brethren  of 
the  ministry  so  well,  I  cannot  trust  them  abso- 
lutely ;    I   have   to   trust  Jesus  —  Jesus  only.     And 


TEMPTED  FROM  DUTY.  147 

could  j'ou  look  this  moment  into  all  my  heart 
and  character,  you  would  say,  oh !  poor  broken 
vessel,  you  cannot  hold  any  water.  Yet  even  we 
are  the  ones  to  heed  the  Master's  call  to  carry  the 
Gospel  throughout  all  the  heathen  world." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

TAKEN  PRISONERS. 

FROM  Kansas  Llewellyn  Litchfield  went  directly 
to  Washington,  and  reported  himself  for  duty 
to  the  general  agent  of  the  Christian  Commission. 
For  several  days  he  was  assigned  to  the  Lincoln 
hospital,  and  his  fidelit}r,  without  apparently  exces- 
sive weariness,  marked  him  as  one  fitted  for  the 
hard  work  at  the  front.  With  the  next  oppor- 
tunity, therefore,  he  was  sent  down  the  Potomac, 
and  across  toward  the  Rappahannock,  and  located 
with  two  other  volunteer  delegates  near  the  head- 
quarters of  the  sixth  corps. 

To  scores  of  diseased  and  wounded  soldiers, 
Llewellyn  found  opportunity  daily  of  being  a 
good  Samaritan.  Many  of  the  able-bodied  of  the 
ranks  he  sought  and  conversed  with,  and  never  did 
his  religious  efforts  meet  an}T  rudeness.  All  had 
become  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  seriousness 
of  the  war,  and  it  was  generally  felt  that  not 
over  half  of  the  men  could  ever  return  to  their 
homes.  It  was  a  field  white  for  the  harvest,  and 
diligentl}7.  Llewellyn  thrust  in  his  sickle  with  a  glad 
and  grateful  heart. 

148 


TAKEN  PEISONEBS.  149 

One  incident  was  richly  blessed  to  the  strength- 
ening of  his  faith,  and  of  his  determination  to  go 
to    the   dark,  heathen   world. 

"  If  you  please,  sir,  I  would  like  to  see  you 
alone ;   and  where  nobody  can  possibly  hear  us." 

Llewellyn  had  never  met  a  more  brutish  and 
repulsive  man  than  this  common  soldier  who  thus 
accosted  him  in  front  of  the  commission  tent,  the 
evening  of  a  dark  night.  A  little  prayer  meeting 
was  in  progress  within,  and  the  tents  around  were 
so  closely  pitched,  there  seemed  no  place  for  per- 
fect privacy  except  in  a  ravine  outside  the  camp. 
But  Llewellyn  was  no  coward;  and,  armed  only 
with  his   Bible    and   his   lantern,    he    replied : 

"All  right;  I  am  ready.  Let  us  go  to  the 
creek." 

On  an  old  log  they  seated  themselves,  and 
waited  in  silence  until  two  soldiers,  who  were 
sauntering  through  the  gully,  had  passed  beyond 
hearing. 

"I  am  the  wickedest  man  in  this  army,  and  I 
want    some    of   your   religion;    that's    me." 

"  Well,  my  clear  fellow,  Jesus  Christ  takes 
special   pleasure   in    saving   s,uch   as   you." 

"  I  don't  know  about  that.  I'm  an  awful 
wretch.  I  have  committed  every  crime.  There  are 
many  places  where  I  could  be  hung  to-morrow,  if 
I  were  known.  Look  at  my  forehead;  you  see  I 
always   keep    my   hair    combed    down    over   it." 

"Yes;  you  have  .had  a  picture  pricked  into  your 
skin   there    of  a   skull   and   two   bones." 


150  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Do   you  know   what   it   means  ? " 

"  No." 

"I  wish  I  didn't,  either.  It  is  the  pirate's 
sign.  My  father  was  a  Spaniard,  my  mother 
English.  He  was  a  slaver,  and  harsh  to  me.  The 
crew  and  I  mutinied,  and  threw  him  overboard. 
Then  we  got  sick  of  the  niggers,  and  went  free 
after    eveiybody." 

"And   killed   many?" 

"Yes;  men,  women  and  children.  It's  awful! 
I   was   a   perfect   devil ;    no    mercy,    no    honor." 

"If  there  is  nothing  good  in  you,  how  is  it 
you  are  now   fighting   for   my  country  ? " 

"  The  mere  pleasure  of  excitement.  I  was  on 
the  other  side  until  Antietam ;  was  taken  pris- 
oner, swore  I  was  a  Union  man,  and  enlisted. 
Don't  care  a  fig  which  side  beats.  But  give  me 
a  chance,  and  I'll  fight  because  I  like  it.  A 
hard  fellow,  I  tell  }-ou ;  but  I  want  some  relig- 
ion." 

"Why?" 

"  To  put  out  the  fire  inside  of  me,  and  to  — 
ah  !  —  to  — oh  !  I  don't  know,  but  I  want  religion 
to  — ah!"  — 

"Let  me  read  you  out  of  God's  word,"  inter- 
rupted Llewellyn,  for  it  was  painful  to  see  the 
agony  of  a  most  wicked  soul  reaching  out  in 
utter    darkness    toward    God. 

"  Saith  the  Lord,  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow;  though  they  be 
red    like     crimson,    they    shall    be    as    wool.     The 


TAKEN  PRISONERS.  151 

Son  of  Man  is  come  to  save  that  which  was  lost. 
Him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out.     Whosoever  "  — 

"What's    that    word?" 

"  Whosoever." 

"  Let  me    see    it !     No    mistake  !     O,    God  !  " 

The  tattoo  sounded,  warning  all  soldiers  to  their 
quarters.  Llewellyn  slipped  quietly  away,  thinking 
the  man  would  soon  follow,  and  that  it  was  not 
best    to    talk    with   him    another   word. 

During  the  night  Llewellyn  was  awakened  by 
the  firing  of  a  gun,  and  was  informed  that  a 
sentry  had  shot  a  man  who  was  prowling  around 
camp    after   tattoo. 

"Where    was   he?" 

"  Down   toward    the    creek." 

"  Tell  the  officer  of  the  guard  I  want  to  go 
immediately    to    him." 

With  two  soldiers,  Llewellyn  was  soon  beside 
the    prostrate    form    of   the    dying  pirate. 

"  Poor  fellow,  can  you  speak  ?  "  asked  Llewellyn, 
as   he    knelt   on   the    grass   beside   him. 

"  Whosoever !  "    was    the    only   reply. 

"  Do  you  know  me  ?  I  was  talking  with  you 
to-night." 

"Whosoever  !  " 

Fainter  and  fainter,  this  only  he  said,  "Whoso- 
ever !  whosoever !  whosoever !  "  until  the  bullet 
had  done  its  work,  and  another  soul  was  in  the 
visible    presence    of    its    God. 

The   first   year   of    Llewellyn's    theological    semi- 


152  SELF-GIVING. 

nary  life  in  New  York  City  passed  very  pleasantly. 
The  faculty  were  well  satisfied  with  his  introductory 
relation  of  Christian  experience  and  call  to  the 
ministry,  as  also  with  his  fidelity  and  progress. 
As  the  summer  vacation  drew  near,  he  expected 
to  be  compelled  to  work  on  a  farm  nearly  all 
the  time,  to  provide  himself  with  clothing  for 
the  succeeding  winter.  But  his  record  and  examin- 
ations entitled  him  to  the  income  of  the  u  Kil- 
burne  Fund,"  or  three  hundred  dollars  a  j'ear  for 
the  two  remaining  years  of  his  course,  and  so 
gladly  he  returned  to  the  army  for  a  second 
summer   in   the    Christian    Commission    work. 

He  requested  to  be  sent  again  to  the  sixth 
corps,  and  found  many,  ah !  not  all,  of  his  old 
acquaintances  camped  in  front  of  Petersburg. 
Some  of  the  harvest  of  his  sowing  had  been 
gathered  at  the  Wilderness,  some  of  it  at  Spot- 
sylvania,   and    still  more    at    Cold    Harbor. 

One  day  General  Grant  ordered  an  assault  all 
along  the  lines,  from  before  Richmond  to  below 
Petersburg.  Many  thousands  fell  that  day  in  vain. 
The  enemy  successfully  repelled  from  behind  the 
immense  fortifications.  Llewellyn,  though  in  con- 
stant peril  from  bullets  showering  thickly  around 
him,  kept  close  up  among  the  falling  and  the 
dying.  Never  were  any  from  the  medical  and 
ambulance  corps  in  advance  of  him.  Once  he 
received  a  slight  wound,  and  once  also  he  was 
thrown  to  the  ground  by  the  windage  of  a  can- 
non-ball. 


TAKEN  PRISONERS.  153 

By  the  badges  of  the  wounded,  he  saw  he 
had  come  to  the  limit  of  the  sixth  corps'  battle- 
ground, and  to  that  of  the  second.  He  therefore 
was  on  the  point  of  turning,  when  a  familiar 
voice   exclaimed, 

"  Brother  Llewellyn  !  " 

"  O,    Charley,    my   brother,    is   that   you?"" 

"  Give   me   some   water  !  " 

"  Yes,  here  is  some,  and  I  must  add  a  little 
stimulant,  for  you  are  very  weak.  Where  are 
you   wounded  ?  " 

"In   my  breast.     I   know   I    cannot   live." 

"  Are   you   prepared   to   die,  dear   brother  ? " 

"  Yes ;  I  am  at  peace  with  God,  through  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ.  I  ran  away  from  home  after 
mother  was  married  again,  became  wild,  and 
joined    the    army." 

"We  tried   to   find   you,    Charley." 

"  Yes ;  I  supposed  so.  But  I  did  not  wish  you 
to,  and  so  I  took  another  name.  Nobody  has 
known  it,  except  a  }roung  Christian  lad}r  in  the 
army,  Miss  Cleora  Lyddell,  who  has  led  me  to 
believe  in  Jesus.  Give  me  some  water.  It  is 
getting   dark." 

"  Charley,  you  are  going  where  father  is.  Tell 
him  I  am  to  be  a  minister,  and  a  missionary  to 
the    heathen." 

"  Yres,     I     will.     Kiss     me     for     mother.       More 
water  !     Llewellyn,  say,  Now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep." 
"Yes,    Charly;   we   always   repeated    it    together 
at   school." 


154  SELF-GIVING. 

"More  water!"  "mother!"  "Jesus!"  "  Lyd- 
clell!"    "Jesus!"    "mother!"    "Jesus!" 

And  Llewellyn  could  hear  no  more.  He  took 
out  his  note-book  to  mark  the  bearings  of  some 
of  the  prominent  objects  in  sight,  so  that  under 
the  morrow's  flag  of  truce  he  might  come  and 
find  his  brother's  body  for  burial.  But  he  waited 
too  long  within  what  was  practically  the  enemy's 
lines.  On  both  sides  the  Confederates  had  been 
streaming  forth  from  behind  their  breastworks 
after  our  retiring  troops,  and  before  Llewellyn 
was  aware,  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  under 
the  extremely  suspicious  circumstances  of  appar- 
ently being  engaged  in  sketching  the  fortifications 
and   their    approaches. 

"  Have  you  any  papers,  any  badge  —  anything 
with  you  to  prove  you  are  not  a  Yankee  spy  ? " 
asked  the  captain  of  the  hastily  summoned  court- 
martial. 

"  My  commission  is  in  my  tent ;  and  my  badge, 
which  was  upon  my  coat's  lapel,  dropped  off 
during   the   battle." 

"  A  likely  story !  This  is  your  note-book, 
in  which  }^ou  were  found  sketching  our  fortifica- 
tions  at   the   time    of   capture." 

"  I  was  trying  to  locate  my  brother's  boclv,  so 
as  to  have  it  buried  under  the  next  flag  of  truce." 

"  Too  thin,  sir,  with  this  picture  in  our  hands. 
It  is  itself  enough  to  condemn  you.  You  have 
exactly  the  line  to  that  part  of  our  earthworks 
where   the    trench    has    been    filled    by    an    earth- 


TAKEN  PRISONERS.  155 

slide,  and  where  the  Yankees  might  have  gotten 
over  with  ns  yesterday,  had  they  had  this  sketch 
of   approach." 

"You  have  levelled  all  the  ground  and  cut 
dawn  all  the  trees  for  a  mile  in  front  of  youv 
works,  and  in  this  direction  I  could  find  no  other 
bearings    than   your  fortifications." 

"  Enough,  sir ;  you  do  not  suppose  we  believe 
any  of  this  stuff  you  have  packed  into  yonr  note- 
book, about  letters  from  China,  and  being  a  mis- 
sionary, and  selling  Bibles  in  Kansas?  That  is  all 
a  put-up-job,  sir,  to  cover   your  tracks  as  a  Yankee 

spy." 

11  Will   you   not  allow  "  — 

"  Silence,  sir,  while    the    court   confers." 

A  few  moments,  and  Llewellyn's  fate  was  sealed. 

"  You  are  to  be  hung  to-morrow  morning  at 
ten    o'clock.     Guard,  remove  the    prisoner !  " 

What  was  one  life  when  tens  of  thousands  were 
being  slaughtered?  How  could  more  attention  in 
the    name    of  justice    be    given    to    an   enemy  ? 

Llewell}Tn's  brother,  Charles  Litchfield,  had 
spoken  of  his  obligation  for  religious  counsel  to 
Miss  Cleora  Lyddell.  She  had  not  been  all  of 
the  past  year  in  the  army.  It  would  have  been 
her  highest  pleasure,  but  her  strength  was  hardly 
equal  to  the  strain  of  such  faithful  work  as  she 
performed,  and  her  parents  would  not  give  their 
consent.  So  she  was  at  home  in  Boston  during 
the  winter,  quite  domesticated  on  account  of  a 
protracted  visit   her   mother  made   to    Washington. 


156  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Bridget,"  said  Cleora  to  the  cook  after  she 
returned  from  seeing  her  mother  off  at  the  Provi- 
dence depot,  "  I  want  you  to  teach  me  even-thing 
about   the   kitchen    in    the    next   two    months." 

"  Faith,  and  I  can't  tell  you  'cept  ye  soil  them 
poorty  fingers  o'  yours." 

"  O,  I  understand,  Bridget.  This  afternoon  I 
shall  purchase  a  gingham  dress  and  several  aprons, 
and  then  work  right  along  with  you  two  hours 
every  day.  I  wish  to  know  all  about  how  to  make 
bread  and  cake  and  pies,  and  to  cook  meats  in 
eveiy  way,  and  to  prepare  soups  and  puddings  —  to 
do   everything   you    can    do." 

"Ah,  me  lady,  y'ese  always  to  live  in  a  poorty 
grand  house,  so  there's  lots  I  knows  as  can  niver 
does   ye    any   good." 

"  What   things   do   you   mean,  Bridget  ? " 

"  O,  fixing  up  poor  stuff  for  the  like  o'  me 
when  I  was  left  a  widdy — johnny-cake,  and  mush, 
and  potato-soup,  and  pork-fritters,  and  ha,  ha ! 
rich  folks  hereabouts  makes  as  much  as  iver  I 
did   of  beans    and   black   bread." 

"  I    want   to    know  all   this  too,   Bridget." 

And  she  did.  Before  Mrs.  Lyddell's  return 
Cleora  was  quite  an  accomplished  cook,  and  prided 
herself  especially  in  that  most  useful  of  all  domes- 
tic arts,  the  ability  of  making  the  most  out  of 
the    least. 

Writing  to  her  friend  Margaret  concerning  her 
new  experience  and  its  results,  she  added,  "Surely, 
and    God    knows   it,   I    am    thus    much    the    better 


TAKEN  PRISONERS.  157 

fitted  sometime  to  be  a  missionary  to  the  heathen." 

Yet  she  had  not  said  a  great  deal  of  late  regard- 
ing this  far-off  ambition  of  her  heart,  her  mind 
was  so  full  of  the  diseased  and  wounded  at  the 
front.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddeli  were  very  much 
gratified  at  this  reticence,  and  gave  their  consent 
to  another  summer's  work  with  Mrs.  Doctor  Tol- 
hurst  in  the  State  Relief  Agency. 

"  By  the  time  she  returns  to  us  again,  there 
will  be  nothing  left  of  her  heathen  craze,"  declared 
the    father. 

Her  welcome  to  the  field-hospital-work  of  the 
old  second  corps  was  enthusiastic.  Many  of  the 
officers  and  men  gave  her  very  gratifying  atten- 
tions, for  she  had  proved  herself  a  real  Florence 
Nightingale  in  the  service.  Nuts  and  bones  were 
beautifully  carved  by  patient  hands  as  tokens  of 
appreciation ;  and  if  any  flower  within  a  mile  of 
Cleora's  tent  ventured  forth  into  the  heat  and 
dust  of  that  great  battle-field,  it  was  quite  sure 
to  find  its  way  to  the  box  which  stood  on  end 
as  the  table  beside  her  little  cot.  Even  some  of 
the  Confederates  who  had  been  helped  by  her 
hands  and  her  words  when  prisoners,  learned  mys- 
teriously across  the  lines  of  her  return,  and 
sent   most   courteous   greetings. 

"We  have  brought  him  half-way  from  the 
picket-line ;  but  he  could  endure  it  no  farther. 
We   are  sorry,  for  he   is  very  anxious  to  see   you." 

"  I  will  go  with  you  to  him,"  replied  Cleora. 
"They  will  not  fire  on  a  woman." 


158  SELF-GIVING. 

It  was  true.  Good  field-glasses  in  the  hands 
of  the  chivalrous  sons  of  the  South  kept  back 
all  leaden  messengers ;  but  the  bait  of  that  little 
cluster  of  Yankee  soldiers  watching  a  woman's 
ministrations  to  a  wounded  picket  was  too  tempt- 
ing, and  in  a  few  moments  a  sortie  was  made  by 
a  company  of  cavalry,  and  Cleora  and  her  com- 
panions   were    taken    prisoners. 

"  We  know  you,  lady,"  said  the  captain  ;  "  and 
you  may  stay  or  go  with  us  as  you  choose.  You 
may  mount  my  horse,  and,  I  assure  you,  you  may 
return  any  day  you  wish,  only  as  you  pass  our 
lines  the  general  will  require  you  to  bandage  your 
eyes." 

"  Leave  two  of  our  men  to  carry  this  wounded 
picket  to  the  hospital,  and  I  will  go  with  you," 
was  Cleora's  quick  and  shrewd  reply.  And  not 
waiting  a  moment,  but  taking  their  gallantry  as 
a   matter   of   course,    she    asked : 

"  Men,  who    of  you    have    wives  ? " 

Three    hands    went   up. 

"And  who  of  you  three  have  children  at 
home?" 

Two    hands   only   were   lifted. 

"Take  hold  of  the  stretcher,  then,  you  two, 
and  report  to  the  Massachusetts  Agency  that  I 
am  a  prisoner  one  week.  Here,  Captain,  is  my 
handkerchief;  be  so  good  as ]  to  tie  it  yourself 
over  my  eyes,  and  then  to  arrange  your  saddle  for 
a   lady   to   ride." 

Past  the   lines    two  miles  —  it   seemed   ten  —  till 


TAKEN  PRISONERS.  159 

she  dismounted  at  headquarters,  had  her  eyes  uncov- 
ered, and  was  most  kindly  greeted  by  General 
and    Mrs.   Stone. 

While  they  were  visiting,  a  squad  of  soldiers 
leading  a  young  man  bound,  with  a  rope  around 
his  neck,  passed  along  about  a  hundred  feet  in 
front   of   the    fly-tent    where   they   were    sitting. 

"  General,  I  have  seen  that  young  man  before," 
exclaimed  Cleora.  "  He  is  a  delegate  of  the  Chris- 
tian Commission,  and  his  name  is  Llewellyn 
Litchfield." 

"  Do   you   know   him  ?  " 

"  Not  personally ;  but  he  has  drawn  upon  our 
Massachusetts'  Agency-stores.  He  has  a  brother 
who  is  a  soldier  in  our  second  corps,  named 
Charles.     I   have    nursed   him." 

"  Orderly!  "  shouted  General  Stone.  "Stop  that 
execution.  It  is  a  mistake.  He  is  not  a  spy. 
Blindfold  him,  and  send  him  across  the  lines  at 
once    under   a   flag    of  truce." 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

BOSTOX    AND    NEW    YORK    SOCIETY. 

DURING  her  experience  in  the  relief- work  of 
the  army,  Cleora  Lyddell  frequently  corre- 
sponded with  the  Boston  Chronicle.  Its  editor  saw 
two  or  three  of  her  first  letters  to  her  parents 
after  she  reached  the  front,  and  with  their  per- 
mission, he  wrote  to  her  an  urgent  request  that  she 
would  become  a  regular  contributor.  His  promise 
was  ten  dollars  a  column,  and  she  directed  that 
pa}* men t  be  made  in  papers  for  distribution  among 
regiments   from    Eastern    Massachusetts. 

On  return,  many  urged  Cleora  to  issue  her  pub- 
lished letters  in  book-form,  and  the  editor  heart- 
ily endorsed  the  suggestion.  The  result  was  very 
gratifying.  Several  editions  were  demanded  by 
the  trade  in  rapid  succession,  and  the  press  gen- 
eral^ throughout  the  country  pronounced  the  book 
one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  literary  contribu- 
tions of  the  War.  A  few  papers,  however,  whose 
literary  editors  had  been  unsuccessful  authors  or 
preachers,  or  who  catered  to  a  popular  taste  for 
sensational  criticism,  said  some  very  severe  things. 
One    observed    that    evidently   the    author    thought 

160 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY.  101 

all  wisdom  would  die  with  her  in  regard  to  what 
to  do  with  the  diseased  and  wounded  in  army- 
life,  and  that  omniscience  was  her  foible.  Another 
paper  said  that  the  book  was  given  to  exaggera- 
tion, since  it  spoke  of  fifty  thousand  as  in  one 
battle,  when  the  official  figures  gave  only  forty- 
seven  thousand.  And  still  another  remarked  that 
the  book  seemed  to  be  prompted  by  sincere 
philanthrophy,  but  it  was  very  lamentable  that 
a  young  woman  should  allow  herself  to  express 
opinions  on  questions  concerning  which  men  of 
acknowledged  capacity  and  long  experience  are 
still    at   loggerheads. 

One  day  the  distinguished  secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Domestic  Missions  called  upon  her  to  lead 
a  special  subscription,  which  she  did  with  one 
hundred  dollars. 

"  Will  you  not  accept  also  a  present  of  my  book, 
sir?" 

"I  beg  you  to  pardon  me,  Miss  Lyddell,  but 
I  could  not  consent  to  have  it  in  my  library,  or 
in    my    home." 

"  Why,  Doctor  Addison  Johnson,  what  is  the 
matter  with  it?  Does  it  not  plead  a  glorious 
cause,  the  very  one  to  which  you  are  giving  your 
life  —  help   for   the    destitute    and    neglected?" 

"  All  true,  Miss  Lyddell ;  and  very  little  but  what 
is  good  should  be  said  of  your  book  ;  nevertheless  — 
please  raise  the  window,  and  ring  for  a  glass  of 
fresh  water  ;  the  subject  affects  me,  as  many  others 
here    in    Boston,   very    strangely." 


162  SELF-GIVING. 

"  But  do  tell  me  quickly  the  reason  of  all  this!" 

"  It  is  your  careless  use  of  the  English  language. 
Thus  you  say  'latterly'  for  recently.  I  know 
that  Archbishop  Whately  and  Southey,  and  others 
of  commonplace  writing,  admit  the  word,  but  my 
namesake  Doctor  Johnson,  designates  this  4  a  low 
word,    lately   hatched.'  " 

"Ha,  ha,  ha!"  burst  out  Cleora  in  a  fit  of 
uncontrollable  laughter,  while  tears  came  to  the 
eyes   of  her  visitor. 

Of  such  hypercritical,  superfine  society,  Miss 
Lyddell  found  much  in  the  American  Athens. 
The  Philological  Society  of  Young  Ladies  invited 
her  to  join,  as  also  the  Renaissance  Association, 
the  Sanscrit  Class,  the  Grecian  Band,  and  the 
Ceramic  Club.  For  these  pursuits  she  had  consid- 
erable taste,  but  her  appreciations  and  inclinations 
were  much  stronger  toward  personal  beneficence 
among   the   poor   and   the    needy. 

There  were  some  calls  upon  her  charity,  however, 
which  she  repelled.  The  causes  were  good  in 
themselves,  but  had  not  in  the  judgment  of  the 
world,  and  of  the  vast  majority  of  Christians,  the 
appearance  of  downright  honesty.  Thus  in  Chelsea 
there  was  an  asylum  for  the  blind,  supported  on 
"the  faith  principle."  Its  superintendent  was  con- 
tinually sending  her  monthly  reports,  and  statisti- 
cal circulars,  and  writing  her  of  this  and  that 
poor  blind  girl  he  could  not  receive  until  the 
Lord  should  furnish  the  money.  Of  course  he 
never  asked  her  for  anything  ;  O  no !  Besides,  he  had 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY.  163 

persuaded  a  deaf  and  dumb  girl  in  the  next 
house  to  the  Lyddell  mansion,  in  whom  Cleora 
had  been  deeply  interested,  to  believe  in  "  the  faith 
cure,"  and  by  the  consequent  disappointments,  she 
had  been  driven  into  hopeless  insanity. 

But  freely  of  her  heart  and  hand  and  money 
she  gave  to  man}'  noble  philanthropies.  Deeply 
interested  in  the  girls  behind  the  counters,  she  per- 
suaded twenty  leading  ladies  on  Beacon  Hill  not 
to  patronize  a  pertain  large  store  on  Washington 
street,  until  stools  were  furnished  the  weary  ones 
for  occasional  rests.  She  organized  a  society  of 
young  ladies,  pledged  to  discountenance  in  every 
proper  way  the  use  of  wine  in  social  gatherings. 
And  she  was  not  afraid  to    advocate    dress   reform. 

No  institution  enlisted  more  of  Cleora's  sym- 
pathies than  the  Beacon  Hill  Home  for  fallen 
women.  She  had  herself  furnished  one  of  the  rooms, 
and  many  an  evening  with  Mrs.  Deacon  Sage 
of  Tremont  Temple,  she  walked  the  streets, 
inviting  to  refuge  and  the  hope  of  a  better  life, 
girls   who   had   strayed   from    virtue's   path." 

Calling  at  the  Home  one  morning,  to  counsel  an 
unusually  attractive  young  woman  who  had  accepted 
her  invitation  the  night  before,  and  occupied  Cleora's 
room,  she  found  her  on  the  steps  going  away. 

"  How  is  this,  my  friend  ? "  inquired  Cleora. 
"  You    are   not   leaving    us    so   soon,    are   you  ? " 

"  It   is   no   use,    Miss.     You    cannot   save   me." 

uNo;  but  Christ  can.  Come  in,  and  let  us 
talk  about  him." 


164  SELF-GIVING. 

"  He    can   have    nothing   to    do    with  me." 

"  Let  me  read  you  of  the  beautiful  story, 
where  Jesus  said :  '  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee ; 
go,  and  sin  no  more.'  " 

"  Ah,  Miss  Lyddell !  T  was  not  so  wicked  all 
at  once.  Little  by  little  I  wandered  astray.  There 
was  wilfulness,  and  wine,  and  the  undue  familiarities 
of  the  dance  —  all  before  the  ruin." 

"  Probably,  also,  you  were  unfortunate  in  your 
associations." 

"Ah!  that  is  what  they  say — unfortunate.  No; 
I  chose  my  own  companions.  From  some  of  the 
purest  and  the  truest  I  turned,  flinging  their  holy 
friendships  away,  because  I  would  be  more  wild  and 
sensual.  Step  by  step,  and  myself  to  blame  for 
them  all !  " 

"  Dear  friend,  there  is  hope  in  your  candor,  and 
in  your  recognition  of  trul}'  moral  classes  in  society." 

"Ah  !  Miss  Lyddell  —  may  I  say  Cleora?  —  you  do 
not  know  me.  Yet  you  would  know  my  handwrit- 
ing. We  have  not  met  for  eight  years  —  not  since 
Saratoga." 

"  Can  it  be  possible  that  you  are  Laura  Hamil- 
ton ?  "  and  the  two,  hand-in-hand,  wept  the  unspoken 
words. 

"  Yes,  Cleora,  I  stopped  writing  to  you  and  Mar- 
garet because  your  letters  were  becoming  so  pious. 
At  the  same  time  I  shook  off  one  of  the  best  young 
men  in  the  world,  a  Mr.  Llewellyn  Litchfield.  Oh  ! 
let  me  go ;  I  never  can  again  be  fit  to  associate  with 
such  as  him  and  you." 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY.  1G5 

"  Laura,  you  must  accompany  me  to  my  home. 
You  must  room  with  me  for  the  next  three  months, 
and  be  my  constant  companion.  Your  dress  and  till 
these  ornaments  we  will  tear  into  pieces  and  burn 
in  the  furnace.  I  can  divide  some  of  my  wardrobe 
with  you,  and  we  will  go  shopping  together  until 
you   are  clothed  respectably." 

It  was  a  great  trial  to  Cleora  that  so  little  of  this 
and  other  kinds  of  Christian  self-giving  work  were 
done  in  her  own  church.  It  added  to  her  heart- 
burden  to  know  this  was  largely  her  beloved 
minister's  fault.  In  some  respects  he  was  a  great 
preacher,  but  he  did  as  little  pastoral  work  as  pos- 
sible. Then  his  sermons,  though  stimulating  to  the 
intellect,  seldom  addressed  the  heart,  and  he  never 
seemed  so  happy  in  the  pulpit  as  when  decrying 
evangelists,  and  disparaging  those  ministers  whose 
preaching  results  in  the  conversion  of  multitudes. 
He  was  always  flying  off  from  the  simple  exposition 
and  enforcement  of  Scripture,  into  abstruse  analyses 
and  the  seizing  of  every  most  remote  opportunity  for 
airing  one  of  his  pet  theological  theories.  He  ridi- 
culed preaching  old  sermons,  but  Cleora  was  quite 
sure  she  had  heard  scores  of  times  many  of  his 
propositions  and  lines  of  argument. 

These  peculiarities  of  Doctor  Sheldon  were  not 
the  only  trial  Cleora  had  with  her  pastor.  To 
his  coldness,  and  sensoriousness,  and  egotism,  was 
added  a  worldly  conformity.  As  one  evening  she 
was  returning  from  a  mission  pra}rer-meeting,  in 
company   with    the   poor,   fallen    Laura,    whom   she 


166  SELF-GIVING. 

was  trying  to  save,  most  unfortunately  they  were 
passing  directly  in  front  of  the  Opera  House,  when 
he    came    out    with    his    wife. 

"  Cleora,"  quickly  observed  Laura,  "  that  man 
cannot    help    me    any    more." 

"  O,  perhaps  he  has  merely  been  to  the  door 
for   his   wife." 

"  Not  likely.  Let  us  attend  somewhere  else 
next  Sunday.  A  man  who  can  patronize  an 
operatic  manager  who  keeps  a  mistress,  and.  finds 
delight  in  the  attitudinizing  of  girls  dressed  in 
tights,  cannot  give  me  any  assistance  in  struggling 
up   into   a   life    of   purity." 

The  anxiety  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell  were  not 
being  allayed.  Boston  society  with  its  aesthetics 
and  philanthropies  was  not  succeeding  in  curing 
Cleora's  "  missionary  craze."  They  determined  to 
send  her  to  New  York,  where  she  would  come 
into  contact  with  more  enterprising  fashionable  life. 
Into  the  quite  common  mistake  they  fell  of 
underestimating  the  amount  and  quality  of  the 
religion  which  throbs  in  the  great  metropolitan 
heart  of  our  country  and  sends  vitality  through  ten 
thousand  channels    all    over    the    land. 

The  visit  was  to  be  with  cousins,  living  in  their 
own  splendid  "brownstone  front"  on  Foity-seeond 
street,  between  Fifth    and   Sixth    avenues. 

Here  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fletcher,  married  but 
three  months,  had  commenced  housekeeping.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  great  banking  firm  of 
"  Fletcher  Brothers,"  and  his  wife   had   inherited  a. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY.  1G7 

million  of  dollars  from  her  grandfather,  Karl  Van- 
derhusen.  Their  mansion  was  furnished  in  truly 
palatial  style,  and  for  its  care,  together  with  that 
of  the  stables,  fifteen  servants  were  employed. 
The  parlors  were  hung  with  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  paintings,  and  some  of  the  finest 
statuary  that  could  be  procured  in  Europe,  adorned 
the    corners   and    mantels. 

Moreover,  in  this  elysium  love  reigned.  The 
young  couple  were  sincere  and  strong  in  their 
affections  for  each  other.  He  did  not  spend  as 
much  time  as  man}'  at  the  club,  for  his  wife 
continued  to  make  it  so  much  more  pleasant  for 
him  at  home.  They  were  both  members  of  one 
of  the  Fifth  Avenue  churches.  Surely  here,  if 
anywhere,  Cleora  would  become  attached  to  society 
and  ambitious  to  settle  down  in  pride  and  luxury. 

One  day  soon  after  Cleora's  arrival,  Mrs.  Dore- 
mus,  of  saintly  memory,  called  for  some  help  upon 
the  outfit  of  a  missionary  party  soon  to  embark 
for  Micronesia. 

Mrs.  Fletcher  prompt!}'  contributed,  feeling  that 
she  only  paid  what  the  call  was  worth  anyway, 
and  then  Cleora  insisted  upon  doubling  the  amount. 

*'  Perhaps  Mrs.  Doremus,"  continued  the  latter, 
"  would  not  object  if  I  should  accompany  her  to 
see    the    missionaries    off   upon    the    steamer?" 

4*  O,  no,  indeed,  Miss  Lyddell,  provided  you  will 
bring  along  a  steamer  chair  and  both  your  hands  full 
of  flowers  to  help  say  good-by  to  those  dear,  self-giv- 
ing people.'' 


168  SELF- GIVING. 

After  Cleora  had  seen  her  chair  placed  upon  deck, 
and  had  been  down  with  the  missionary  sister  who 
had  received  it,  to  arrange  the  flowers  in  her  state- 
room, she  met  on  return  to  the  saloon,  and  to  her 
great  surprise  and  joy,  her  old  friend  Margaret. 

"  Why,  I  thought  you  were  in  Chicago  !  " 

"  Only  here  on  a  flying-trip  to  see  one  of  my  dearest 
pupils  sail  for  the  mission-field." 

"  I  wish  I  was  going  with  this  party,"  said  Cleora. 

"  And  I  too,"  responded  Margaret. 

"  God  knows  the  deep  and  strengthening  desire  of 
my  heart,"  continued  the  former ;  "  but  his  provi- 
dence does  not  open  the  way." 

"  Nor  can  I  understand,"  added  the  latter,  "  why 
the  Master  still  so  completely  hedges  up  my  path.  If 
we  were  married  to  missionaries  I  suppose  we  could 
go.  But  I  do  not  believe  God  is  making  us  wait  for 
that." 

"No,"  replied  Cleora;  "he  is  fitting  us  for  our 
work.  All  our  varied  home  mission  efforts  will  pre- 
pare us  the  better  to  labor  in  the  foreign  field." 

"Young  ladies,"  interrupted  Mrs.  Doremus,  "allow 
me  to  introduce  to  you  a  young  gentleman  yonder, 
coming  down  from  the  deck,  who  is  studying  to  be  a 
missionary.  I  find  him  very  helpful  in  my  work. 
This  wa}',  Mr.  Litchfield,  please.  Miss  Kilburne,-  Miss 
Lyddell." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

SUPPLYING   AND    CANDID ATING. 

THE  hour  for  the  sailing  of  the  steamer  had 
arrived,  and  Llewellyn  had  no  opportunity 
aboard  to  more  than  pass  the  introductory  com- 
pliments with  the  two  young  ladies.  The  depart- 
ing missionaries  were  the  centre  of  all  interest. 
Some  tears  were  shed,  but  behind  them  were 
happy    faces   and    grateful   hearts. 

"  O,  my  son  ! "  said  the  mother  of  the  youngest 
missionary  brother,  as  perhaps  for  the  last  time 
she  infolded  him  with  her  loving  arms,  "  do  not 
mistake  these  tears.  They  are  tears  of  joy.  You 
are  my  only  child ;  but  God  gave  his  only- 
Beloved    to    me,  and    gladly  I    give    you    to    him." 

"  In  ten  minutes  the  gang-plank  will  be  drawn  !  " 
shouted  the  steward. 

"  That  will  give  us  just  time,"  said  Mrs.  Dore- 
mus,  "  for  two  verses  of  a  parting  hymn.  Miss 
Lyddell,  there  is  a  piano  behind  you.  You  must 
know  the  missionary  chant ;  and  Mr.  Litchfield 
and  Miss  Kilburne  will  help  you  in  leading 
us." 

In  a  moment  the  busy  saloon  became  a 
169 


170  SELF-GIVING. 

sanctuary.  The  captain,  passing  through,  stopped, 
and  reverently  uncovered  his  head.  Steward  and 
waiters  followed  his  example.  The  whole  scene 
was  eloquent  of  Christian  consecration.  Never 
were  those  lines  of  Mrs.  Voke's  sung  more  ten- 
derly : 

Ye  Christian  heralds,  go,  proclaim 
Salvation  through  Immanuel's  name; 
To  distant  climes  the  tidings  bear, 
And  plant  the  rose  of  Sharon  there. 

And  when  your  labors  all  are  o'er, 

Then  we  shall  meet  to  part  no  more; 

Meet  with  the  blood-bought  throng,  to  fall, 

And  crown  our  Jesus  Lord  of  all. 

• 
Not  another  word  was  spoken,  and  in  a  few 
moments  the  group  of  friends  upon  the  farthermost 
end  of  the  pier  were  watching  the  fast  receding 
forms  of  the  missionaries,  who  had  gathered  upon 
the    hurricane   deck. 

u  Ladies,"  said  Llewellyn,  when  he  noticed  they 
were  talking  with  each  other  as  if  arranging 
for  going,  "  I  beg  your  delay  a  moment,  while 
I  say  to  }tou  what  I  have  had  on  my  lips  from 
the  moment  of  our  introduction  in  the  saloon. 
I  wish  to  thank  Mr.  Kilburne  of  Chicago,  through 
his  daughter,  for  the  generous  fund  by  which 
chiefly  I  am  supported  in  preparing  to  be  a 
missionary.  And  I  desire  also  to  express  my 
gratitude  to  Miss  Lyddell,  whose  face  I  remem- 
ber  in    the    army,  for   your   care    of   my  brother   in 


SUPPLYING  AND  CANDIDATING.  171 

the  hospital,  and  especially  for  your  words,  which 
were    blessed    to    his    conversion." 

"  Father  will  be  glad  to  know  of  the  pleasant 
impression  I  have  received  from  his  beneficiary," 
replied    Margaret.     And    Cleora   added : 

"  I  felt  very  grateful  for  the  privilege  of  talk- 
ing with  your  brother  upon  religion  before  his 
death." 

"  Providentially  I  came  across  him  on  the  battle- 
field just  as  his  young  life  was  ebbing  away,  and 
your  name,  Miss  Lyddell,  and  those  of  his  mother 
and  Saviour,  were  the  last  on  his  lips." 

"That  theological  student,"  observed  Cleora  to 
Margaret  after  they  were  seated  in  Mr.  Fletcher's 
carriage,  "  evidently  knows  nothing  of  how  I  saved 
his  life  when  he  was  about  to  be  hung  by  the  con- 
federates as  a  spy.  You  remember  I  wrote  you 
about    it." 

"  O,  yes !  but  I  had  forgotten  the  name  if, 
indeed,  you  mentioned  it.  I  think  it  is  quite  too 
bad  that  he  should  remain  unacquainted  with 
this  probably  the  most  interesting  fact  in  his 
record.  He  could  not  help  falling  in  love  with 
you." 

"  If  ever  I  am  loved,  I  want  to  be  loved  for 
my  own  sake,  and  not  for  any  casual  service  I 
may  have  rendered  a  gentleman  in  any  great 
extremity.  Resides,  I  could  see  that  Mr.  Litch- 
field was  much  more  interested  in  }7ou  than  in 
me,  in  which  he  showed  good  sense,  for  your 
plain    travelling-dress    makes    you   present    a    much 


172  SELF-GIVING. 

more  suitable  appearance  for  a  missionary  candi- 
date than  all  this  silk  and  velvet  and  lace  which 
father  and  mother  have  piled  upon  me.  Then 
he  knows  where  you  live  —  spoke  of  it,  you  re- 
member—  but  neither  knows  nor  cares  about  my 
address.  O,  he  will  turn  up  in  Chicago  before 
he  graduates,  and  ask  you  to  go  with  him  as  a 
missionary    to    the    heathen  ! " 

"  Then  as  I  must  start  on  my  return  West 
to-morrow,  and  can  spend  only  this  afternoon 
and  evening  with  you,  why  did  you  not  invite 
him  to  call  upon  us?  If  there  is  so  certainly 
to  be  a  courtship,  .1  do  not  wish  to  have  it 
completed,    you    know,    too    quickly." 

"I  desired  to  visit  as  much  as  possible  with 
you,  and  did  not  intend  to  be  selfish.  I  am 
really  sorry  now,  that  I  was  not  more  thoughtful 
for   3rour   sake." 

Several  weeks  passed,  during  which  Cleora 
became  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  a 
mission,  whose  chapel  was  a  little  below  Forty- 
second  street,  on  Eighth  avenue.  After  attend- 
ing the  Fifth  Avenue  Church  every  Sunday 
morning  with  her  cousins,  she  went  to  the  chapel 
in  the  afternoon,  and  often  again  in  the  evening, 
when  she  could  find  company.  She  took  no  class 
permanently  in  the  Sunday-school,  which  was  before 
the  preaching  service,  but  was  always  ready  to  be 
a  substitute ;  and  to  many  an  evening  meeting  she 
went,  not  only  with  her  escort,  but  with  aban- 
doned sisters  she   had  searched   for  in   the.advanc- 


SUPPLYING  AND  CANDIDATING.  173 

ing  shadows  of  the  night,  upon  the  neighboring 
streets. 

One  afternoon  she  was  surprised  and  pleased 
to  see  Mr.  Litchfield  occupying  the  chapel 
pulpit. 

The  text  was  Galatians  i.  —  part  of  4.  —  "  Who 
gave    himself." 

It  was  not  a  strained  effort  at  analysis ;  not  a 
parade  of  theological  class-room  theories ;  not  a 
manifestation  of  anxiety  lest  he  should  be  classi- 
fied among  common  preachers  and  evangelists.  In  a 
simple  story  Christ's  giving  of  himself  was  por- 
trayed, and  all  in  the  various  relations  of  life  were 
encouraged  to  follow  his  example.  Several  such 
plans  of  a  sermon  might  be  constructed  before 
breakfast,  but  behind  the  story  there  was  such  an 
appreciation ;  and  then  so  evidently  the  speaker 
was  possessed  of  the  spirit  of  consecration  he  was 
urging  on  others,  that  Cleora  was  greatly  edified. 

Her  enthusiastic  report  to  her  cousins  induced 
them  to  accompany  her  in  the  evening.  Mr. 
Litchfield  had  given  notice  that,  as  it  was  the  first 
Sunday  of  the  month,  when  at  the  evening  ser- 
vice many  congregations  considered  the  subject  of 
missions,  he  would  take  occasion  to  give  some 
description  of  the  China  field,  with  whicli  he  had 
become    personally    acquainted. 

Cleora  was  deeply  interested  in  the  subject, 
and  the  more  so  because  she  saw  that  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Fletcher  were  giving  the  most  wrapped 
attention. 


174  SELF-GIVING. 

As  the  address  closed,  and  a  half-hour  of 
social  prayer  for  the  cause  of  world-evangeliza- 
tion was  introduced,  Mr.  Fletcher  whispered  to 
Cleora : 

"  If  missions  to  the  heathen  had  ever  before 
been  presented  to  me  in  that  way,  I  should  have 
been  a  believer  in  them.  That  young  man  knows 
about    what   he    has    been    talking/' 

Again  he  whispered  to  her,  while  they  were 
singing,  "  I  shall  invite  this  3'oung  man  to  my 
house  to  spend  the  evening,  and  soon  —  while  you 
are    with    us,    if   }rou    have    no   objection." 

The  invitation  was  accepted  for  the  following 
Wednesday  evening,  -and  it  passed  very  pleasantly 
to  all  the  company.  Mr.  Fletcher  drew  out  Llew- 
ellyn upon  the  social  and  political  and  religious 
condition  of  China,  and  he  in  turn  inquired  of 
Miss  Lyddell  many  things  regarding  Japan.  To 
both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fletcher  it  was  a  novel  expe- 
rience to  see  through  two  pairs  of  bright  eyes  into 
the  manners  and  customs  of  foreign  populations, 
and  to  take  all  bearings  of  thought  from  the 
standpoint    of   Christian    enterprise. 

"  Really,  Mr.  Litchfield,"  observed  the  former, 
"  I  did  not  appreciate  how  interesting  a  subject  is 
foreign  missions.  I  have  been  a  great  reader  of 
newspapers  and  of  books  of  foreign  travel,  but 
have  never  used  the  evangelization-key  to  unlock 
the  treasures  of  thought  which  their  facts  con- 
tain." 

"  Nor   did   I,"    replied   Llewellyn,    "  until   after  I 


SUPPLYING  AND  CANDIDATING.  175 

had  visited  South  America  and  Africa,  and  had 
been  several  months  in  China.  Then,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  suddenly  the  history  and  pass- 
ing events  of  the  heathen  world  took  on  new 
meaning  for  me.  I  saw  that  the  grand  move- 
ments were  in  preparation  for  Christianity  ;  that 
the  fact  of  a  few  missionaries  here  and  there 
was  by  no  means  all  of  God's  dealing  with  a 
thousand  millions  of  our  fallen  race,  and  that 
all  merely  political  and  commercial  consideration 
of  the  lands  beyond  Christendom  is  at  the  best 
superficial    and    unreliable." 

4'  And  in  Japan,"  added  Miss  Lyddell,  "I  came 
to  see  very  clearly,  that  the  cause  of  Christ  is  the 
real  solution  of  the  great  revolution  there  in 
progress.  The  power  behind  the  wonderful  move- 
ments of  late  in  that  country  originates  evidently 
neither  from  the  people  themselves  nor  from  the 
Western  nations." 

"  But  are  you  quite  sure,  cousin  Cleora," 
inquired  Mr.  Fletcher,  "  that  your  wish  has  not 
been  father  to  the  thought,  and  that  }^ou  have  not 
imposed  your  emphatic  views  of  divine  providence 
upon  all  the  facts  you  have  met  in  foreign 
travel?" 

"  I  think  not,  cousin  Edward.  I  had  not,  when 
I  went  to  Japan,  any  of  that  hostility  to  missions 
of  which  Mr.  Litchfield  has  confessed ;  the  rather 
I  was  strongly  drawn  toward  the  missionaries  and 
their  work.  And  yet  not  for  months  did  I  think 
of  them   as   doing   more   than   each   taking    a    few 


176  SELF-GIVING. 

shovels-full  of  earth  away  from  a  mountain.  But 
at  last  I  saw  the  mountain  shaking  ;  and  I  asked, 
What  does  this  mean  ?  I  saw  great  national  events 
taking  place,  to  which  the  mission  work  was  but 
incidental,  and  yet  in  many  ways  combining  to 
the  overthrow  of  idolatry  and  superstition,  and 
to  preparation  for  the  Gospel,  and  I  could  not 
help  reading  the  lesson  of  an  all-over-ruling  Provi- 
dence." 

44  Why,  cousin  Cleora,  you  preach  as  well  as  Mr. 
Litchfield.  I  should  think  }'ou  ought  to  be  a 
missionary,  but  for  the  irresistible  claims  which 
Boston    society    has    made    upon   you." 

"  Ha,  ha !  It  would  be  amusing  indeed," 
exclaimed  Mrs.  Fletcher,  to  see  the  belle  of 
Beacon  Hill  leaving  her  palatial  home,  and  car- 
riages, and  servants,  and  the  most  cultured  society 
in    America,    and    going    to    live    among    heathen  !  " 

"  My  dear,"  responded  her  husband,  "  I  should 
hardly  say  '  amusing.'  It  would  be  a  most 
impressive  exhibition  of  Christian  consecration  ; 
one,  however,  which  I  should  never  expect  to  see, 
and  which  of  course  our  cousin  cannot  be  called 
upon  to    make." 

Cleora  was  a  little  embarrassed  at  the  direction 
of  the  conversation.  While  ready  to  express  her- 
self upon  the  general  subject  without  reserve,  and 
also  to  show  the  most  cordial  interest  in  the  young 
theological  student's  purpose  in  life,  she  could  not 
consent  to  acknowledge  in  nis  presence  the  cherish- 
ing   of   the   same    hope    for   mission   work. 


SUPPLYING  AND  CANDID ATING.  177 

"  You  doubtless  remember,  Mr.  Litchfield,  my 
friend  Miss  Kilburne,  who  was  with  me  on  the 
steamer?" 

"  O,  yes;  and  I  beg  pardon  for  not  having 
inquired  after  her  before.  I  presume  she  has 
returned    to    Chicago." 

"I  wish  she  could  have  heard  you  last  Sunday, 
and  been  here  this  evening.  She  has  a  very 
strong  desire  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen." 

"  I    think   she    would  make   an  excellent  mission- 

•7" 

"  O,    yes,    Mr.    Litchfield ;     I   am   sure    I    never 

met  one    better  qualified  by  nature,    by   grace,  and 

by    experience." 

"  I  have  heard,  Miss  Lyddell,  that  her  father  has 
lost  his  property,  so  that  the  responsibilities  of 
wealth  do  not  lie  in  her  way  of  going  to  the 
mission-field." 

"  The  trial  has  greatly  developed  her  woman- 
hood and  Christian  character.  Nothing  would 
delight  me  more  than  to  see  her  off  as  one  of  a 
good   missionary   party   for   China   or   India." 

"  I  am  to  visit  Chicago  in  a  few  weeks ;  a 
friend  has  offered  '  me  a  pass ;  and  I  will  do 
myself  the  honor  of  calling  on  her.  It  will  be 
very   pleasant   to  be   acquainted   with  you   both." 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

WASHINGTON    OR     AGRA? 

ON  Margaret  Kilburne's  *  return  to  Chicago, 
her  train  was  snowed  in  between  Cleveland 
and  Toledo.  For  six  hours  a  large  force  of  men 
was  engaged  in  shovelling  through  a  drift  of 
half  a  mile  in  length.  Meanwhile  the  passengers 
had  opportunity  of  forming  many  new  acquaint- 
ances, as  not  only  time  hung  heavily  upon  their 
hands,  but  the  question  of  food  became  important, 
and  the  gentlemen  waded  through  to  the  neigh- 
boring farmhouses  in  quest  of  a  supply  for  the 
ladies    and   themselves. 

In  the  seat  directly  in  front  of  Margaret,  sat 
General  Walter  Loughridge  of  Chicago,  and  his 
mother. 

"If  the  unaccompanied  lady  behind  us  will 
permit  me,"  said  the  General  as  he  buttoned  his 
great  overcoat  to  start  out  on  his  foraging  expe- 
dition, "  I  will  see  what  I  can  raise  in  the  eat- 
able   line    for   her    also." 

"  Indeed,  thank  jrou,  sir,"  replied  Margaret ;  "  I 
am  beginning  to  realize  that  appetite  is  very 
jealous   of  its   privileges/' 

178 


WASHINGTON  OR  AGRA?  179 

While  he  was  gone,  the  venerable  lady  engaged 
Margaret  in  animated  conversation ;  learned  that 
she  was  the  daughter  of  her  old  friend  and 
neighbor,  Mrs.  Kilbnrne,  and  that  she  had  been 
to  New  York  to  see  one  of  her  pupils,  recently 
married,   sail   as  a   missionary. 

"  O,  Walter,"  she  exclaimed,  as  at  last  he  returned, 
from  a  mile's  tramp,  loaded  with  bundles  of  but- 
tered bread,  and  of  doughnuts  and  mince  pies, 
"do    you    not   recognize    Margaret   Kilburne  ?  " 

4i  Really ;  I  beg  a  thousand  pardons,  Miss  Kil- 
bnrne. It  is  several  years  since  we  met,  but 
you  are  indeed  the  same  as  when  the  shining 
light  of  Michigan  Avenue  society,  only  you  are 
more    mature." 

"  I  have  passed  through  a  great  deal  of  expe- 
rience in  the  last  few  years,  but  have  not  for- 
gotten the  young  gentlemanly  lawyer  whose 
courtesies  were  often  after  the  pattern  of  this 
bountiful  feast.' 

"  A  little  over  a  year  ago  I  came  very  near 
enjoying  the  opportunity  of  renewing  my  acquaint- 
ance   with   you." 

"  Indeed  ;   how   was   that,  General  Loughridge  ?  " 

"  While  I  was  in  an  army  hospital,  after  being 
wounded,  a  Miss  Lyddell  of  the  Massachusetts 
Relief  Agency,  very  kindly  read  to  me  the  papers, 
and  also  a  book  which  }rou  had  written.  She 
said  she  knew  the  authoress  well,  and  at  my 
request,  wrote  your  address  in  my  note-book. 
But   unfortunately,    I   lost   it." 


ISO  SELF-GIVING. 

This  was  truth,  but  by  no  mens  all  the 
truth.  Margaret  did  not,  of  course,  express 
herself,  but  she  thought  correctly,  that  if  he  had 
cared  very  much  to  meet  her  on  the  occasion 
of  that  book  and  old  acquaintanceship,  he  could 
have  found  her.  He  was  a  man  of  the  world, 
honest,  able  and  successful.  The  pious  little  book 
held  his  attention  only  while  he  was  a  helpless 
invalid,  and  lying  close  to  the  gates  of  death. 
As  he  recovered,  he  forgot  his  secret  promises 
to  himself  and  to  his  God.  All  his  religious 
purposes  vanished,  and  he  went  to  church  only 
as   his   mother's    escort. 

But  Margaret  pleased  him.  It  detracted  nothing 
from  her  in  his  estimation  that  her  father  had 
lost  all  his  property.  She  was  intelligent,  beauti- 
ful, and  accomplished  as  a  writer  and  a  singer. 
He  had  read  and  admired  many  of  her  contribu- 
tions to  the  papers,  and  he  had  often  heard  of 
the  sweetness  and  power  of  her  soprano  voice. 
This,  however,  was  not  acknowledged,  for  it  did 
not  quite  tally  with  his  alleged  difficulty  in 
finding  her  on  account  of  the  loss  of  his  note- 
book. 

With  her  personal  charms,  however,  he  was 
now  very  much  impressed,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  the  waiting  and  the  journey,  he  found 
many  words  and  ways  with  which  to  express 
very  agreeably  to  Margaret  his  high  appreciation 
of  her   womanly    qualities. 

Only    once    did   the   conversation   become   trying, 


WASHINGTON  OR  AGRAf  181 

and  that  when  referring  to  the  missionaries  who 
bad    sailed,    he   remarked : 

"  I  presume  they  have  gone  to  better  their 
condition.  That  is  the  business  of  everybody  I 
have    ever    met   in    this   world." 

44  Was  that  your  business  when  you  went  into 
the  army,  General?"  replied  Margaret.  "Did  you 
leave  vour  elegant  home,  and  brilliant  societv,  and 
large  growing  legal  practice,  to  better  your  con- 
dition, when  you  put  yourself  before  the  enemy's 
bullets  and  into  the  malarious  swamps  and  hospi- 
tals ?" 

44  Mother,  she  has  me  as  sure  as  you  live.  I 
never   was   answered  better    in    court." 

44 1  am  always  glad,"  continued  Margaret,  "to 
be  the  means  of  removing  any  of  the  popular 
misapprehensions  regarding  missionaries.  But  the 
task  is  too  great  a  one  for  any  mere  informer. 
The  difficulty  is  deep-seated.  Missions  are  Chris- 
tianity's most  Christ-like  expression,  and  as  long 
as  Christ  finds  opposition  in  the  natural  heart,  so 
long    will  missions   be    opposed   and  defamed." 

44  Very  true,  Miss  Kilburne,  I  must  candidly 
acknowledge.  But  if  you  were  a  lawyer,  and  had 
had  as  much  business  with  mission-people  as  I 
have  had,  you  would  largely  excuse  me.  Some 
years  ago  I  had  a  missionary  client  who  inherited 
two  thousand  dollars,  which  I  collected  for  him. 
Then,  as  he  was  away  off  in  South  Africa,  I 
invested  it  for  him  in  a  little  piece  of  ground 
in     Chicago,     down     by     the     water.       Well,     the 


182  SELF-GIVING. 

improvements  in  the  river  have  deposited  a  great 
deal  of  sediment  in  the  shallow  water  off  this 
piece  of  property,  and  *the  missionary  could  sell 
out   to-day  for   ten   thousand   dollars." 

"  O,  I  am  so  glad  for  him  ! "  exclaimed  Mar- 
garet. 

"  No  doubt,  Miss  Kilburne ;  but  you  are  dif- 
ferent from  the  rest  of  them.  I  cannot  tell  you 
how  many  times  the  secretary  and  members  of 
the  executive  committee  of  his  society  have  been 
mousing  around  me  for  information.  It  is  none  of 
their  business,  and  goes  to  show  what  I  have 
long  thought,  that  they  are  a  close-fisted,  relig- 
ious ring  which  has  sat  down  upon  missionaries 
and   churches." 

u  I  should  not  argue  in  that  wa}r,  General 
Loughridge.  Business  men,  I  have  heard,  try  to 
learn  all  about  the  financial  standing  of  those 
with  whom  they  have  dealings.  I  presume  you 
have  in  some  secret  drawer  of  your  own  office, 
commercial  agency  books,  which  give  moneyed 
particulars  concerning  thousands  of  people.  All 
this  information  is  gained  by  interested  parties 
going  around  and  incidentally  asking  a  great  many 
questions.  Are  you,  therefore,  a  part  of  a  ring, 
acting    unjustly   and   cruelly   toward   anybody?" 

"  Come,  Walter,  my  son,"  interrupted  the  old 
lady,  "you  are  no  match  for  Miss  Kilburne  on 
missionary   and   religious  subjects." 

"  That  is  so,  mother ;  but  I  enjoy  such  whip- 
ping  from    so   fair  a   hand.     I   wish    Miss  Kilburne 


WASHINGTON  OR  AGRA  f  183 

would  let  me  call  upon  her  from  time  to  time, 
to  sharpen  up  my  wits  for  the  bar  and  the  political 
platform.  She  is  the  most  skilled  person  I  ever 
met   m    the    argumentum  ad   hominem." 

"If  I  could  make  a  convert  to  missions,  Gen- 
eral Loughridge,  of  one  of  so  large  influence  as 
yourself,  I  should  feel  as  if  my  time  could 
hardly   be    more   profitably   spent." 

Months  passed.  Many  times  Margaret's  busy  and 
somewhat  humdrum  life  was  varied  by  calls  from 
the  handsome  and  distinguished  lawyer.  He 
brought  his  speeches  for  her  to  revise,  and  she 
read  him  her  contributions  to  the  press,  and  both 
found  each  other's  criticisms  useful.  For  recreation 
he  frequently  played  accompaniments  upon  the 
piano,  while  she  sang.  But  conversation  monopo- 
lized the  larger  part  of  their  interviews ;  not  aim- 
less, dreary  words  of  gossip  and  fashion  ;  brains 
worked  as  well  as  mouths.  They  threw  away  no 
time  discussing  anybody's  dress,  or  peculiarities,  or 
fortunes,  after  the  common  idiotic  style  among 
airy  people.  But  they  compared  notes  upon  litera- 
ture, science  and  art ;  discussed  the  great  social 
and  political  questions  of  the  day,  for  Margaret 
kept  posted  in  the  papers,  thinking  it  more  impor- 
tant for  her  to  know  what  was  occurring  in  Con- 
gress or  m  diplomacy,  than  what  was  the  newest 
stitch  in  fancy-work  or  the  latest  importation  in 
dress  from  the  Parisian  demi-mode ;  and  occasion- 
ally they  fell  into  conversation  upon  religious 
and   missionary    themes,    though    not    as    often    as 


184  SELF-GIVING. 

Margaret  desired,  for  her  company  was  evidently 
reluctant   to    dwell    upon   such    subjects. 

She  watched  with  great  interest  the  progress 
made  by  the  General  and  his  political  friends  in 
the  heated  canvass  for  United  States  Senator 
from  Illinois.  Anon}-mously,  she  wrote  several 
articles  in  support  of  his  candidature,  which,  how- 
ever, he  detected  as  reproducing  some  of  the 
expressions  she  had  used  in  their  conversations. 
He  promised  to  inform  her  immediately  of  the 
result  of  the  balloting  at  Springfield,  where  by 
telegraph  he  was  in  constant  communication  with 
the   State-leaders    of   his   party. 

"  Elected,  Miss  Kilburne ;  I  have  called  for 
your  congratulations  !  "  was  the  early  evening 
greeting  of  United  States  Senator  Loughridge,  as 
he  arose  in  the  little  waiting-room  of  the  board- 
ing-house to  meet  Margaret,  who  had  come  down 
quickly   at   his   familiar   summons. 

"  Then  I  must  bend  very  low  in  the  presence  of 
such  exalted  dignity.  General  of  the  United  States 
Army,    and    United    States    Senator   from    Illinois. " 

"  But  I  am  not  satisfied  ;  I  have  still  higher 
aspirations." 

"  What !   wanting  to   be   President   already  ?  " 

A  knock  at  the  door,  and  the  house-boy  handed 
in  a  letter  for  Margaret,  that  moment  left  by  the 
postman. 

"  Please  read  3-our  letter,  Miss  Kilburne,  for  it 
may   bave  important  news  for  you." 

44  Yes ;    I  see  it  is  very  important,  Mr.  Senator. 


WASHINGTON  OR  AGRA  f  185 

Very  short.  It  simply  notifies  me  from  the  Women's 
Union  Missionary  Society,  that  I  am  appointed 
its  missionary  to  commence  a  Zenana  mission-work 
as  soon  as  practicable  in  Agra,  North  India." 

"  Nonsense,  Miss  Kilburne !  It  is  the  greatest 
piece  of  absurdity  of  which  I  ever  heard !  I  beg 
of  you  to  give  me  the  right  to  answer  that 
letter." 

"How?" 

"  By  accepting  my  heart  and  my  hand.  I  wish 
you  to  go  with  me  as  Mrs.  Loughridge  to  Wash- 
ington.    Will  you  not?" 

Visions  of  Washington  and  of  Agra  floated 
before  the  bewildered  mind  of  Margaret.  She 
was  asked  to  be  one  of  the  first  ladies  of  the 
land,  and  by  one  she  esteemed  most  highly,  and 
could  love  with  all  her  heart.  Never  a  nobler 
man  by  nature  than  he,  whose  hands  now  clasped 
her  own.  But  these  years  her  Divine  master  had 
been  calling  her  to  missionary  life,  and  preparing 
her  for  the  service,  and  at  last  the  door  of  oppor- 
tunit}*  opens.  On  the  one  side  a  husband,  honor, 
wealth,  society ;  on  the  other  disgusting  heathenism, 
retirement,  poverty,  discomfort,  and  perhaps  an  early  . 
death.  Which?  In  her  furnace  she  felt  as  if  she 
could  see  another  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man. 

"  Not  for  the  heathen,  but  for  me,  FOR  ME,  I 
ask  this  sacrifice,"  Christ  seemed  to  say  to  her. 
And  in  full  view  of  the  pierced  hands  and  feet 
and   side,    she    quickly    and   firmly    decided. 

"Senator  Loughridge,  I  cannot  be  your  wife. 
My   duty  to    Christ  is   to   be   a   missionary   to   the 


L$6  SELF-GIVING. 

heathen.  He  calls  me,  and  I  must  go,  even 
if  I  never  reach  heathen  shores,  and  am  buried 
at  sea.  Besides,  I  question  my  right  as  a 
Christian    to    consent." 

"Is  your  decision  irrevocable,  Miss  Kilburne? 
I    beg   of  you    to    reconsider    it." 

"  Irrevocable,  General  Loughridge  ;  and  I  pray 
God  in  all  my  weakness  that  I  may  be  firm. 
Please   now   excuse    me." 

Margaret's  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  missionary 
appointment  was  written  that  evening  to  the  rooms 
in  New  York,  and  when  she  returned  from  mailing 
it  upon  the  adjoining  street,  she  found  a  visiting 
card   with   regrets   from   Llewellyn  Litchfield. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  DUKE  OF    TRAFALGAR'S  SON. 

THE  great  social  event  in  Boston  of  the  winter 
of  1865-66,  was  a  protracted  visit  from  a 
young  English  nobleman.  He  was  neither  duke, 
marquis,  earl,  viscount  or  baron,  and  being  only 
the  second  son  of  the  duke  of  Trafalgar,  it  was 
not  certain  he  could  ever  rank  among  these  five 
orders  of  Great  Britain's  nobility ;  but  no  family 
in  all  the  realm,  excepting  royalty  and  that  of 
the  duke  of  Argyle,  occupies  so  high  a  social 
position,  and  this  was  quite  sufficient  in  American 
judgment  to  qualify  the  English  visitor  to  be 
lionized   among   the   elite    of   Beacon    Hill. 

None  upon  this  democratic  side  of  the  great 
waters  cared  to  trace  the  young  nobleman's  lineage 
back  to  his  earliest  ancestry,  though  many  in 
the  British  Isles  know  more  about  his  genealogy 
than  of  the  geography  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
our  common  school  system,  or  of  the  relation 
among  us  between  Church  and  State.  Many  there 
could  tell  how  one  representative  of  the  Trafalgar 
family  was  Sir  Robert  Peel's  chief  adviser ;  how 
another  restored   Pitt  to   power,  and   how  another 

187 


18S  SELF-GIVING. 

commanded  a  frigate  at  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  armada.  They  could  relate  how  a  Trafalgar 
sent  Wolsey  to  disgrace  and  death  ;  how  another  was 
prominent  in  the  wars  of  the  White  and  Red  Roses, 
and  how  another  still  under  Edward  the  Third, 
secured  the  refusal  of  the  annual  tribute  to  Rome, 
re-demanded  by  Urban.  Nor  would  they  forget 
that  a  Trafalgar  was  one  of  the  barons  who  ex- 
torted Magna  Charta  at  Runnymede ;  that  another 
fell  at  Hastings,  and  that  the  first  known  chief- 
tain of  this  name  commanded  under  Alfred  at  the 
battle  of  Ethandune. 

Even  the  Bostonians  did  not  concern  them- 
selves about  this  ancestral  parade.  Suffice  it,  they 
had  an  English  nobleman  on  hand,  and  they  made 
the  most  of  him. 

And  yet  he  came  to  America,  as  far  as  he 
knew  anything  of  the  occasion  of  his  coming, 
simply  on  a  business  errand,  and  was  quite 
amazed  at  the  social  excitement  which  his  presence 
created  in  the  Athens  of   the  New  World. 

The  duke  intended  that  this  son  Harold  should 
be  either  an  army  officer  or  a  clergyman,  and  was 
ready  to  buy  him  the  former  position,  or  to 
appoint  him,  if  he  chose,  to  the  deanery  of  Oxford, 
which  he  controlled.  But  Harold  was  strongly 
opposed  to  the  purchase  s}rstem  still  prevailing  at 
that  time  in  the  British  army,  believing  that  per- 
sonal qualification  should  be  the  only  ground  of 
preferment;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  con- 
scientious   scruples    against    entering    the    Christian 


THE  B  UKE  OF  TRA  FA  L  GA  ZT  S  SON  189 

ministry,  without  such  a  thoughtful  and  prayerful 
impression  of  duty  as  should  constitute  a  call  of 
God  to  the  work.  Society  said  that  he  was  "  too 
clever "  to  be  a  clergyman,  and  that  therefore  he 
must   go    into    the   army. 

None  thought  of  the  Duke  of  Trafalgar's  son 
ever  engaging  in  mercantile  business  To  several 
of  his  relatives  it  would  have  been  almost  cruel 
to  have  suddenly  suggested  any  such  absurd  idea. 
Never  had  any  hands  in  which  flowed  their  bluest 
of  blue  blood  touched  any  money-making  kind  of 
work.  To  the  head  of  the  family  belonged  an 
estate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  in 
the  midland  district,  which  came  from  marriage 
with  one  of  the  Norman  chieftains  of  William  the 
Conqueror.  To  receive  rents  and  expend  in  the 
gayeties  of  London  and  Paris,  were  the  only  proper 
liberties  for  them  in  business  transactions. 

But  Harold  "had  come  to  put  a  different  esti- 
mate upon  commerce.  To  buy  and  sell  goods 
honestly,  intelligently  and  industriously,  seemed 
to  him  thoroughly  becoming  any  gentleman,  if  he 
was  thus  inclined  to  fill  a  place  in  the  world. 
He  had  formed  the  acquaintance  of  several  lead- 
ing merchants  of  London,  and  through  them  had 
met  a  number  of  Americans  — "  self-made  men," 
who  from  poverty  had  amassed  fortunes,  with- 
out neglecting  either  education  or  refinement. 
Their  example  kindled  his  desire  to  enter  into 
some  kind  of  business;  and  as  his  father  had 
settled  upon  him  fifty  thousand   pounds,  expecting 


190  SELF-GIVING. 

him  to  use  this  amount  in  securing  high  military 
position,  he  determined  to  ask  permission  to  invest 
it  in  the  silk  trade,  with  a  firm  into  which  he 
had    been    cordially    invited. 

It  came  very  hard  for  the  old  duke  to  give 
his  consent.  He  first  directed  his  lawyers  to 
learn  all  they  could  against  the  firm,  hoping  thus 
to  destroy  Harold's  interest  in  it.  But  they  re- 
ported that  there  was  not  in  all  London  a 
stronger  and  more  honorable  firm  engaged  in  silk 
importation,  than  Edwards,  Blvthwood  &  Co., 
Limited,  whose  American  correspondents  were  the 
well-known  Lvddell,  Burrows  &  Co.  of  Boston. 
When  the  women  heard  of  the  proposed  degrada- 
tion of  the  family,  both  the  light  and  the  heavy 
brigades  charged  bravely  upon  Harold  and  his 
father.  The  duchess  declared  with  wringing  hands 
and  tearful  eyes,  she  never  could  again  look  into 
the  face  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen*.  The  daughter 
of  the  baron  of  Westminster,  who  had  received 
many  presents  from  Harold,  hastened  to  return 
them  all.  The  marchioness  of  Kent  recalled  her 
invitation  to  a  breakfast-party.  But  the  old 
duke  was  unusually  endowed  with  common  sense, 
and  gradually  he  disentangled  his  judgment  from 
the  traditions  and  prejudices  of  his  family,  and 
from  the  social  inbecilities  of  otherwise  intelligent 
British    aristocracy,    and    declared: 

"Harold  is  nearer  right  than  all  the  rest  of 
you,    and   he    shall    do    as    he    chooses." 

After     Harold     had     been     in     business     upon 


THE  DUKE  OE  TRAFALGAR'S  SON,  101 

Threadneedle  street  for  two  years,  the  firm 
decided  to  send  him  for  an  important  conference 
with  their  correspondents  in  Boston.  The  older 
members  had  all  been  to  America,  while  Harold 
had  never  crossed  the  Atlantic;  and,  besides, 
Mr.  Lyddell,  who  was  the  head  of  the  Boston 
firm,  had  sent  special  request  that  if  consistent, 
the  young  nobleman  should  be  intrusted  with  the 
business,  and  make  his  home  at  his  house  while 
in    Boston. 

This  was  really  the  consummation  of  a  plan 
which  Mr.  Lyddell  had  been  maturing  ever  since 
the  duke's  son  had  been  admitted  into  the  part- 
nership of  Edwards,  BIythwood  &  Co.,  Limited. 
Yet  he  never  mentioned  it  to  his  wife  until  a  few 
days  before  the  nobleman's  arrival,  from  fear  that 
by  some  indiscretion  the  secret  purpose  he  was 
so  fondly  cherishing  should  be  revealed  to  Cleora. 

Mrs.  Lyddell  was  charmed  by  the  plan  and 
the  prospect.  It  was  more  than  she  had  ever 
dreamed  for  her  daughter.  She  did  not  question 
the  possibility  of  Cleora  resisting  the  charms  of 
the   son   of  a   real    duke. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Lyddell,  it  seems  too  good  to  be 
true,  to  have  an  eligible  young  nobleman  of  the 
Trafalgar  blood  a  guest  in  our  home  !  Are  you  sure 
lie  is  not  engaged  to  some  lady  of  the  English  court?  " 

"Yes,    indeed  ;     or    I    would    not    have    alio- 
myself   all    this    trouble,    proposing    another    branch 
house     in     Shanghai,    and     a     conference     on     the 
subject." 


192  SELF-GIVING. 

"  And  you  say  the  duke  is  very  old  and 
feeble  ?  " 

"Cannot   possibly    live    long." 

"And    his   first   son    is   in    delicate    health?" 

"I    have    said   all   that   before." 

"I    know,    I    know;     but    it   is    so    encouraging. " 

"O,  you  will  fly  away  with  your  enthusiasm  and 
spoil  it  all.  This  must  be  managed  very  adroitly. 
We   must   give  him    a   grand   reception." 

"What   must    I   do?" 

"  As  little  as  possible.  I  wish  you  to  play 
invalid,  and  both  at  his  reception  and  all  through 
his  visit,  throw  as  much  as  possible  of  the  responsi- 
bility upon  Cleora." 

The  nobleman  came.  The  reception  was  consid- 
ered in  Boston  the  most  elegant  affair  of  the  season. 
Cleora  devoted  nearly  all  her  time  and  energy  to  the 
entertainment  of  her  father's  distinguished  guest. 
Other  parties  were  given  in  his  honor,  and  she  accom- 
panied him.  He  wished  to  visit  Harvard  University', 
and  Mr.  Lyddell  was  suddenly  indisposed,  so  that 
Cleora  had  to  take  her  father's  seat  in  the  carriage. 
One  day  Mrs.  Lyddell  received  a  letter  from  Albany, 
informing  her  of  the  illness  of  her  youngest  sister, 
whereupon,  eagerly,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell  seized 
the  opportunity  to  leave  the  young  people  to  them- 
selves. 

It  was  verjr  evident  that  the  nobleman  was  enjoy- 
ing the  situation.  He  found  that  among  cultured 
Americans  there  was  quite  as  good  society  as  at  the 
English  court.      He  could  not  ask  greater  elegance 


THE  DUKE  OF  TRAFALGAR' S  SON.  193 

and  refinement  than  he  had  met  in  the  Lyddell  man- 
sion. Particularly,  he  became  more  and  more  inter- 
ested in    Cleora. 

And  it  was  not  her  rich  dresses  and  costly  jewelry, 
with  which,  especially  of  late,  her  parents  had  per- 
sisted in  decorating  her  ;  not  the  ease  and  dignity 
with  which  she  presided  at  his  reception  and  escorted 
him  to  various  entertainments ;  not  even  her  literary 
and  artistic  accomplishments,  nor  beautiful  aud  brill- 
iant personal  appearance,  that  particularly  charmed 
Harold.  He  was  accustomed  to  elegant  female  attire, 
to  the  most  polished  social  manners,  and  to  handsome, 
educated  women. 

But  Cleora,  in  all  this  glare  of  English  and  Boston 
societ}^,  did  not  forget  her  dependent  poor,  nor  the 
Youug  Women's  Home,  nor  her  class  in  the  Mission 
Sunday-school,  nor  the  flowers  for  the  hospital,  nor 
her  Sewing-school  for  Poor  Women.  Sometimes  he 
would  accompany  her  on  her  beneficent  errands,  or 
if  he  was  disinclined  to  go,  it  was  evidently  no  reason 
in  her  mind  why  she  should  remain.  He  began  to 
call  her  Florence  Nightingale,  and  declared  he  had 
named  better  than  he  knew,  after  she  had  related 
to  him  some  of  her  experience  in  the  army. 

One  day,  before  the  parents'  return  from  Albany, 
word  came  to  the  breakfast-table,  that  the  cook  had 
been  suddenly  taken  ill,  and  that  the  housekeeper 
had  not  yet  returned  from  the  yesterday's  marriage 
of  her  sister.  The  butler  was  in  a  great  flurry  and 
volunteered  the  information  aloud,  on  purpose  that  the 
guest  also  might  excuse  the  deficiencies  of  the  table. 


194  SELF-GIVING. 

"  O,  do  not  be  over-anxious  regarding  us,  Jacob," 
was  Cleora's  perfectly  composed  reply.  "  Be  sure 
the  doctor  is  called  immediately  to  see  Bridget ;  and 
as  to  the  preparations  for  dinner,  I  will  endeavor  to 
fill  her  place  to-day." 

"  Allow  me,  Miss  Lyddell,"  observed  the  nobleman, 
"to  most  heartily  congratulate  you  over  your  ability 
to  meet  yourself  such  a  household  emergency." 

The  parents  on  return  were  very  much  disappointed 
to  learn  how  much  more  than  usual  of  her  time  Cleora 
had  been  spending  on  her  missionary  expeditions,  and 
were  mortified  beyond  measure  that  the  English  guest 
should  have  known  of  her  kitchen-employments.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  these  were  the  very  things  which 
specially  interested  him,  and  won  his  heart. 

"  Cleora,"  said  the  father,  one  early  evening,  his 
face  radiant  with  smiles  and  all  aglow  with  satisfac- 
tion, "  your  mother  and  I  wish  a  little  visit  with  you 
in  our  room." 

"  Now,  daughter,"  he  said,  after  the  door  was 
closed  and  they  were  seated  in  the  three  large  easy- 
chairs  which  he  drew  to  the  cheerful  grate,  "  we  are 
ready  to  excuse  you  for  having  done  so  much  outside 
missionary  work  " — 

"  O,  I  am  so  glad,  father  !  I  have  hoped  and  prayed 
that  sometime,  you  and  mother  would  become  heart- 
ily enlisted  in  the  cause  of  self-giving  for  the  sake  of 
the  poor  and  the  needy." 

"  Ah  !  —  ahem  !  That  is  another  matter,  Cleora. 
The  fact  is,  that  our  distinguished  guest,  the  Duke  of 
Trafalgar's  son,  has  confessed  to  us  his  special  attach- 


THE  DUKE  OF  TRAFALGAR'S  SON.  195 

ment  for  yon,  and  begs  onr  consent  for  him  to  offer 
his  heart  and  hand  to  onr  daughter.  Could  any 
course  be  more  honorable  and  praiseworthy?" 

"  I  believe  that  few  of  Cleora's  American  admir- 
ers,'' observed  Mrs.  Lyddell,  "  would  have  been  so 
considerate  of  parental  rights  and  feelings." 

"  It  will  be  a  most  admirable  arrangement,"  contin- 
ued Mr.  Lyddell.  "  Our  house  and  the  London 
house  are  virtually  becoming  one  firm,  and  we  shall 
desire  to  spend  half  of  our  time  in  London  with  you, 
and  you  can  be  a  great  deal  here  in  Boston  among 
your  old  friends." 

"  And  how  gratifying,"  remarked  the  mother, 
"  that  Harold  should  have  secured  the  old  duke's 
permission  to  broach  the  matter  with  us.  We  saw 
the  letter  in  which  he  said  —  'you  have  become  a 
merchant,  and  I  see  no  objection  to  your  marrying  a 
merchant's  daughter.'  " 

"  I  was,  however,  somewhat  surprised,"  observed 
the  father,  "  for  the  young  nobleman  to  suggest  in 
such  a  business-like  way,  the  matter  of  our  daughter's 
dowry;  but  I  presume  that  is  English  style.  I  told 
him  it  would  be  a  quarter  of  a  million  ;  —  dollars,  not 
pounds." 

"Father,"  interrupted  Cleora,  "let  me  take  your 
hand ;  and  mother,  your  hand  also,  please.  You 
both  know  that  I  love  you." 

And  the  tears  began  to  trickle  down  the  fair  cheeks 
of  the  beautiful  girl,  seated  between  her  eager  parents, 
neither  of  whom,  as  they  bent  forward  in  wonderment, 
could  comprehend  the  agony  of  Cleora's  expression. 


193  SELF-GIVING. 

"  O,  certainly,  }res,  daughter  !  "  they  replied. 

44  And  I  would  not  mar  your  happiness  if  I  could 
help  it." 

"No,  indeed,"  rejoined  Mr.  Lyddell ;  "but  this 
will  add  to  our  happiness  —  the  crowning  joy  of  our 
lives." 

"  Yes,  dear  girl,  I  know  it  will  be  hard  for  you  to 
give  up  father  and  me,  but  really,  it  will  not  be  giving 
us  up  at  all." 

"  Dear  parents,  God  who  made  me  and  who  redeemed 
me  by  the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ,  requires  me  to  render 
him  other  service  than  this." 

"  No  doubt,"  replied  Mr.  Lyddell.  "  And  the 
sphere  of  your  opportunity  to  do  good  is  to  be 
enlarged." 

44  Yes,  indeed,"  added  the  mother.  44  The  English 
Upper  classes  need,  I  take  it,  a  great  deal  of  pious, 
missionary  work.  Besides,  they  say  there  are  many 
more  poor  and  needy  people  in  London  than  in 
any  other  city  in  the  world." 

44  But  —  I  cannot,  I  cannot  be  the  wife  of  this 
English  nobleman." 

Mr.  Lyddell  sprung  to  his  feet  in  a  towering 
passion,   exclaiming: 

44  Ungrateful  child !  Is  this  your  return  for  all 
our  care  and  sacrifice  ?  Must  your  pious  whims 
thwart  all  our  plans  for  your  good  ?  " 

44  But,  father,  it  would  make  me  supremely 
wretched   to   disobey   my    divine   Master." 

"  Fool !  what  is  it,  then,  that  you  have  deluded 
yourself  into  thinking  he  wants  you  to  do?" 


THE  DUKE  OF  TRAFALGAR'S  SON.  197 

"To  be  a  missionary  to  the  heathen." 

l:  I  ought  to  send  you  to  the  insane  asylum ; 
that   is    what    I    ought   to   do!" 

"  O,  our  daughter  will  think  differently  of  this," 
interposed  the  mother,  "  when  she  has  had  time 
for   reflection." 

"  Never !  never !  "  was  Cleora's  firm  response, 
as  she  spoke  with  tearless  eyes  and  compressed 
lips.  "There  are  duties  I  owe  to  you,  father  and 
mother,  and  there  are  duties  I  owe  to  God.  I  may 
never  be  married.  That  is  not  necessary  for  the 
plan  of  life  which  the  Lord  has  marked  out  for 
me.  But  once  for  all,  if  ever  I  marry,  it  must 
be    a   missionary." 

"  Then,  let  me  tell  you  what  you  must  expect," 
replied  Mr.  Lyddell  in  words  cold  and  rigid  as  an 
iceberg;  "I  will  not  turn  you  out  of  this  house,  but 
beyond  its  threshold  you  can  have  none  of  my  money. 
When  you  go,  you  may  go  to  the  dogs  ! " 

"When  my  father  and  my  mother  forsake  me, 
then    the    Lord    will    take   me    up." 

"O,  confound  your  piety!"  and  Mr.  Lyddell 
slammed  the  door  as  he  stamped  out.  And  the 
mother  immediately  followed,  leaving  Cleora  where 
the  angels  ministered  unto  her. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ACCEPTED   AND   REJECTED. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  graduation  at  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary*  Llewellyn  went  to  Boston, 
by  previous  invitation  and  arrangement,  to  be 
examined  by  the  executive  committee  for  appoint- 
ment as  a  missionary  to  the  foreign  field.  Already 
he  had  had  helpful  correspondence  with  the  rooms, 
having  written  the  secretary  fully  regarding  the 
providential  way  in  which  he  had  been  led,  and 
the  resultant  purpose  of  his  life,  and  having  received 
from  him  most  valuable  assurances  and  suggestions. 
But  it  was  still  farther  necessary,  in  view  of  the 
vastness  of  the  responsibility  that  must  rest  upon 
every  missionary  to  the  swarming  millions  of 
heathenism,  and  of  the  character  of  the  trust 
placed  in  the  rooms  by  thousands  of  home  churches, 
that  the  important  question  of  Llewellyn's  qualifi- 
cations should  be  passed  upon  by  all  the  executive 
officers  of  the  society,  after  a  painstaking  and  prayer- 
ful personal  examination. 

The  interview  at  the  rooms  was  exceedingly 
gratifying.  The  examination  was  not  of  the  super- 
ficial  character   many   imagine,  and   Llewellyn   felt 

198 


ACCEPTED  AND  REJECTED.  199 

profoundly  impressed  with  the  ability  and  con- 
scientiousness of  the  men  to  whom  Providence  had 
intrusted  the  management  of  missions.  He  had 
yet  to  learn  that  even  these  could  sometimes 
forget  their  responsibility,  and  imperil  the  interests 
of  the  cause. 

The  candidates'  correspondence  had  been  with 
the  home  secretary,  as  is  customary  until  after 
appointment,  when  the  missionary-elect  is  expected 
henceforth  to  communicate  through  the  foreign 
secretary. 

Llewellyn  had  thus  already  in  his  offer  of  ser- 
vice answered  many  questions.  He  had  sub- 
mitted a  statement  of  his  views  of  Scripture 
doctrines,  of  his  evidences  of  Christian  character, 
and  of  his  convictions  of  duty  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen.  He  had  given  assurances 
that  his  desires  took  into  account  all  the  hardship, 
suffering,  and  peril,  incurred  in  prosecuting  the 
missionary  work;  that  he  had  inherited  a  good 
constitution,  and  was  in  perfect  health,  and  that 
lie  had  no  near  relatives  to  such  a  degree  dependent 
upon  him,  or  likely  to  become  so,  as  to  place  him 
under  obligation  to  provide  for  their  support.  And 
he  had  answered  other  inquiries,  according  to  the 
manual  the  home  secretary  had  furnished  him, 
heartily  appending  his  assent  to  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  board,  and  declaring  there  was 
nothing  in  its  organization  or  rules,  or  in  the 
organization  or  manner  of  conducting  its  missions, 
which  he   disapproved,  or  which  would  prevent  his 


200  SELF-GIVING. 

laboring  cheerfully  and  happily  under  its  direction, 
and  in  conformity  with  its  regulations  and  those 
of   the    missions. 

"  Mr.  Litchfield,"  inquired  the  foreign  secretary, 
"  what  do  you  think  constitutes  a  call  to  the 
foreign    field  ?  " 

"  Qualifications  and  the  opportunity,''  replied  the 
candidate,  "together  with  such  a  consciousness  of 
the  divine  direction  and  leadership  as  the  Holy 
Spirit   is   sure   to   give." 

"You  speak  of  qualifications,"  remarked  another 
of  the  executive  committee  of  the  board;  "and  you 
have  furnished  some  gratifying  testimonials  from  your 
pastor,  the  presidents  of  your  college  and  theological 
seminary,  and  from  two  very  well  known  laymen 
of  New  York ,  but  if,  nevertheless,  we  should  differ 
from  them  as  to  the  question  of  your  qualifications, 
would  you  feel  that  you  had  any  right  to  go  as  an 
independent  missionary  to  any  of  the  fields  specially 
under  our  supervision  ?  " 

"No,  sir.  My  duty  would  be  either  to  stay  at 
home,  or  to  go  somewhere  else  where  I  would 
not   be    an   interloper." 

"By  what  do  you  expect  to  be  controlled?" 

"By  a  single-hearted,  self-sacrificing  devotion  to 
Christ  and  his  cause." 

"Mr.  Litchfield,"  inquired  one  of  the  most 
thoughtful  of  the  committee,  "do  you  expect  us 
to   send    you    forth   and   support   you?" 

Llewellyn  thought  a  minute.  As  the  full  mean- 
ing of  the  inquiry  dawned  upon  him,  he  responded : 


ACCEPTED  AND  REJECTED.  201 

"O,  no  indeed,  sir !  My  missionary  work  is  to 
be  the  discharge  of  an  individual  and  personal  obli- 
gation. You  and  the  churcbes  are  only  my  helpers 
to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  my  own  independent  self- 
consecration.  Christ  sends  me,  and  we  cooperate  in 
the  endeavor  to  prosecute  his  work." 

"You  do  not  then,  Mr.  Litchfield,"  continued 
the  same  examiner,  "  consider  the  missionary's 
salary  as,  in  any  proper  sense,  a  compensation  for 
labor  performed  ?  " 

"  The  salary  you  may  vote  me  is  simply  your 
grant  in  aid  —  your  cooperation  in  my  mission 
work.  Compensation  for  this  service  I  will  find 
in  the  privilege  of  preaching  Christ  among  the 
heathen,  and  in  the  conscious  presence  and  appro- 
bation of  my  divine  Master." 

Llewellyn  was  heartily  accepted.  But  now  arose 
the  question  of  his  designation  to  a  particular  mis- 
sion field,  and  in  his  case  this  involved  no  small 
difficulty.  He  wished  to  go  to  China,  and  to  the 
North,  where  the  Mandarin  is  spoken,  with  which 
he  had  become  partly  familiar. 

But   the    foreign    secretary    explained : 

"We  do  not  desire  that  Mr.  Litchfield  should 
go  where  he  cannot  labor  cheerfully,  and  in 
accordance  with  his  own  convictions  of  duty  and 
privilege.  But  our  most  pressing  field  at  this 
time  is  North  India.  The  executive  officers  are 
unanimous  that  our  next  appointment  should  be 
to  the  new  station  to  be  opened  in  Agra.  There 
is    where,    we    believe,    all    things    considered,    Mr. 


202  SELF-GIVING. 

Litchfield  may  hope  for  the  largest  possible  ser- 
vice   to    the    cause    of  Christ." 

"  But,  friends,"  interposed  Llewellyn,  "  is  my 
year's  study  of  the  Chinese  to  count  for  noth- 
ing?" 

u  O,  by  no  means,"  replied  the  foreign  secre- 
tary;  "that  will  serve  you  along  the  line  of  your 
previous  Latin  and  German  studies.  In  some 
respects  it  will  be  even  more  helpful  to  you  in 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Hindi,  and  of  the 
Urdu  or  Hindustani.  Besides,  we  understand  that 
your  special  attention  to  the  Mandarin  was  merely 
with  diplomatic  service,  and  business  in  view,  and 
therefore  in,  the  line  of  your  work,  it  cannot 
justly  be  counted  for  more  than  six  months  of  usual 
missionary  endeavor  to  acquire  a  language.  We 
hope  that  you  will  see  the  way  to  yield  cheer- 
fully to  our  judgment  in  the  matter  of  your 
designation." 

"  Most  surety  I  do  thus  yield,"  was  Llewellyn's 
prompt  reply.  "  It  is  for  the  time  a  disappoint- 
ment to  me,  and  yet  undoubtedly  for  the  best. 
You  officers  occupy  a  central  position  with  regard 
to  the  whole  field.  You  correspond  with  all ;  you 
know  the  condition  and  demands  of  all.  None 
can  judge  as  well  as  you  of  the  relative  claims 
of  the  several  missions  and  mission  fields  But 
upon  another  subject  also,"  he  continued,  "I  would 
like  to  defer  to  jout  judgment.  May  I,  in  farther 
preparation,  spend  a  few  months  now  attending 
medical   lectures?" 


ACCEPTED  AND  REJECTED.  203 

"In  ordinary  cases,"  replied  the  foreign  secre- 
tary, "the  experience  of  the  committee  has  led 
them  to  question  the  expediency  of  such  delay,  even 
as  of  a  physician  to  pursue  the  study  of  theologjr. 
It  is  desirable  that  you  have  more  than  the  ordi- 
nary acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  health,  and 
the  remedies  for  disease,  but  this  is  a  matter  to 
be  anticipated  and  made  to  guide  your  incidental 
studies  and  readings  for  years  before  seminary 
graduation." 

"I  think,"  interposed  the  home  secretary,  "that 
another  question  we  have  not  asked  Mr.  Litchfield 
may  help  us  to  decide  as  to  his  suggested  post- 
graduate course.  It  is  ver}r  important  fur  us  to 
know  whether  he  is  under  engagement,  express  or 
implied,  with  view  to  marriage." 

"I   am    not." 

"  O,  then,"  was  the  reply,  "  we  would  advise 
the  delay  you  suggest.  It  will  give  you  time  to 
attend  also  to  this  matter.  We  all  consider  it 
very  desirable  that  a  male  missionary  should  be 
married.  The  exceptions  are  rare.  We  hope  that 
}tou  will  give  the  subject  of  marriage  your  prompt, 
earnest,    and   prayerful   attention." 

When  Llewellyn  returned  to  his  room  at  the 
Revere  House,  it  was  to  enter  upon  a  new  expe- 
rience. He  had  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  most  important  social  duty  of  life.  Senti- 
mental dreams  could  be  indulged  in  no  longer. 
His  heart  must  now  be  thrust  out,  as  Noah 
thrust     out    the    dove    from    the    ark,    to    find     a 


204  SELF-GIVING. 

resting  place  somewhere.  Whom  of  his  young 
lady  acquaintances  could  he  love  better  than  his 
own  life?  Who  of  those  he  knew  would  even 
be  willing  to  accept  his  offer,  and  to  undertake 
with  him  the  far-off,  lonely  work  of  a  missionary 
among  the  heathen?  Who?  But  one  name  was 
continually  arising  before  his  mind.  But  one 
person  seemed  to  live  in  the  home .  of  his 
Utopia.  Again  and  again  he  would  crush  his 
most  tender  and  holy  sensibilities,  and  turn  from 
her  as  from  an  utter  impossibility ;  but  it  was 
only  for  the  vision  to  reappear  more  beautiful  and 
entrancing  than  ever. 

"  O,  God ! "  he  exclaimed,  as  he  sank  upon  his 
knees,  "if  this  is  not  from  thee,  help  me  to 
escape  !  " 

But  he  could  not  escape.  It  must  be,  then,  in 
some  way  that  Cleora  Lyddell  could  become  his. 
Other  mountains  of  impossibility  had  been  removed 
from  before  him  ;  perhaps  this  might.  Anyway,  he 
determined  to  call  upon  her  that  evening,  to  see 
if  she  was  the  same  earnest  Christian,  the  same 
sensible,  companionable  and  healthy  woman,  and  the 
same  enthusiastic  lover  of  foreign  missions,  as  when 
he  spent  that  happiest  evening  of  his  life  with  her  a 
few  months  before  at  the  Fletcher  mansion  in  New 
York. 

Cleora  received  Llewellyn  with  real  sisterly  cor- 
diality. His  object  in  coming  to  Bostom  at  once  in- 
troduced the  subject,  so  welcome  to  both,  of  foreign 
missions. 


ACCEPTED  AND  REJECTED.  205 

Llewellyn  found  her  better  read  than  himself  in 
current  missionary  literature.  She  took  the  monthly 
periodicals  of  the  leading  societies,  and  read  them 
too,  which  is  more  than  many  subscribers  can  say. 
Concerning  several  of  the  fields  she  had  fresh 
information  for  him,  and  particularly  with  regard 
to   North   India. 

"  Then  you  think,  Miss  Lyddell,  that  I  should 
be  thoroughly  reconciled  to  the  disappointment  of 
not   being   located   in   China  ? " 

"Yes,  indeed.  China  is  a  great  field,  but  India 
has  some  special  claims.  There  are  not  only 
millions  unevangelized,  but  also  a  vast  educational 
and  missionary  machinery  needing  readjustment 
and  utilizing.  I  really  believe,  Mr.  Litchfield, 
that  the  heathen  world  presents  no  louder  call 
to-day  than  for  American  missionary  enterprise  in 
India." 

It  was  evident  that  Cleora  had  THOUGHT  as  well 
as  read,  and  therein  largely  was  the  secret  of  her 
continued  reading  and  glowing  interest. 

Llewellyn  was  frequently  surprised  during  the 
evening's  conversation,  at  her  wide  range  of  in- 
formation, her  wise  reflections,  and  at  the  com- 
pleteness with  which  she  was  filled  with  the 
missionary    spirit. 

"  You  —  ought  —  to  —  be  —  a —  missionary  —  your- 
self, Miss  Lyddell,"  observed  Llewellyn,  his  hesi- 
tating" speech  and  flushed  face  telling  more  than 
he    meant. 

"  O,    sir !    the   home   land   also    needs    those    who 


206  SELF-GTVTNG. 

are   acquainted    with    the    work,    and    deeply   inter- 
ested  in  all  that  concerns  it." 

"  True,  Miss  Lyddell ;  but  would  it  be  right  for 
me  to  apply  that  argument  to  myself  as  an  excuse 
for  my  staying  at  home?" 

"  You,  sir,  can  go ;  but  for  me  it  seems  yet 
quite   impossible." 

"  O,  I  am  glad,  Miss  Lyddell,  to  hear  that 
little  word  'yet.'  It  means  that  you  entertain  the 
thought  of  sometime  going.  It  means  that  you 
would  have  God's  hand  remove  mountains  which 
are  in  the  way.  It  means  —  I  beg  your  pardon, 
Miss  Lyddell,"  exclaimed  Llewellyn,  looking  con- 
fusedly at  his  watch  and  rising.  "  I  did  not 
know   that   it   was    so   late." 

They  did  not  separate  quite  as  promptly  and 
formally  as  both  intended.  Their  hands  lingered 
in  each  other's  clasp  an  instant  longer  than  was 
necessary   for   a   polite    good-evening. 

"  Miss  Lyddell,  I  heartily  wish  that  you  were 
not   the   princess   of   this    palatial    home." 

"  What !  not  wish  me  with  all  these  pretty 
things  with  which  to  entertain  gentlemen  !  I 
thought   }^ou    appreciated   paintings    and    statuary." 

"  I  care  more  for  the  jewel  than  its  cumbrous 
setting.  May  I  do  myself  the  pleasure  of  calling 
upon   you   to-morrow   evening?" 

"  Certainly ;  but  I  thought  you  were  intending 
to   start   for   New  York    in   the    morning." 

"  My  heart  will  not  let  me.  It  is  anchored 
here.     Good-night !  " 


ACCEPTED  AND  REJECTED.  207 

«  Good-night ! " 

At  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning  Llewellyn  was 
in  the  counting-room  of  Lyddell,  Burrows  &  Co., 
Washington  street,  waiting  anxiously  for  a  private 
interview   with    the   senior   partner. 

"  And   now   if  you   please,  young   gentleman." 

"  Here  are  my  credentials,  sir ;  one  from  the 
President  of  the  Manhattan  Theological  Seminary, 
where    I   graduated   last    week,   and"  — 

"Ah!    that   will    do.     Business,    please?" 

"I  have  been  accepted  as  a  missionary  to  India, 
as  these  papers  will  show  you  "  — 

"  Good  !  Noble  calling  for  those  who  can  go. 
But  some  of  us  have  to  stay  at  home  and  support 
you.  All  one  work,  you  know.  Will  fifty  dollars 
from  me  be  enough  to  help  you  in  getting  off 
now  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Lyddell,  I  am  acquainted  with  your 
daughter." 

"  Indeed  !  Then  of  course  she  takes  a  special 
interest  in  your  going.  For  her  sake  I  will 
make  it  a  hundred,  and  will  let  you  have  the 
check   immediately,    for   I   am   very   busy." 

"  Mr.  Lyddell,  I  do  not  wish  your  money,  but 
your  permission  to  become  more  than  acquainted 
with   your   daughter." 

"  What,  sir !  Are  you  an  idiot,  sir  ?  Do  you 
not   see    that   nothing   could   be   more    absurd  ? " 

"  I   would   give    my    life   for   her." 

"  Leave,  sir,  instantly !  and  never  dare  to  show 
yourself  in   my    home,  or   in  my  presence   again ! " 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

RESCUED   AND   BETROTHED. 

UTTERLY  bewildered  by  the  refusal  and  dis- 
missal he  had  received  at  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Lyddell,  Llewellyn  walked  back  and  forth,  he  hardly 
knew  where,  until  he  found  himself  strolling  along 
the  shady  paths  of  Boston  Common.  The  old  Park 
Street  Church  clock  struck  noon,  and  one,  and  two, 
before  the  pedestrian  became  conscious  of  weariness, 
and  looked  for  a  seat  to  rest. 

The  only  one  unoccupied  in  sight  had  drawn 
the  attention  of  another  at  the  same  time,  and, 
as  the  two  gentlemen  seated  themselves  at  the  two 
ends  of  the  bench,  it  was  with  a  half-realized, 
mutual    recognition. 

"  I  almost  recall  your  face,  stranger,"  said  Llewellyn 
to  the  tall,  middle-aged,  well-dressed  gentleman  by 
his  side ;  "  only  I  cannot  associate  with  it  your  arm- 
less sleeve/' 

"  O,  I  lost  this  late  in  the  war,  sir !  You  saw 
me  before  the  misfortune.  Yet,  if  I  mistake  not, 
I  met  you  when  you  came  near  losing  what  is 
more  valuable  than  an  arm." 

4>  Were  you  the  Confederate  captain  who  pre- 
208 


On  Boston  Common. 


RESCUED  AND  BETROTHED.  209 

sided  as  my  court-martial  when  I  was  tried  as  a 
sp}7,    and    condemned   to    be    hung?" 

44  Yes,  sir ;  I  think  I  was,  if  }rour  name  is 
Litchfield.  The  other  part  of  your  name  I  remem- 
ber I  could  not  spell.  It  had  several  l's  and  w's 
all    strung    together   in    perfect   confusion." 

"Llewellyn,    was   it   not?" 

14  That  is  it ;  and  I  never  saw  a  man  come 
nearer  being  hanged  than  you.  Of  course  I  am 
glad  you  escaped,  and  we  were  saved  from  exe- 
cuting an  innocent  man.  But  war  is  war,  and 
the  circumstantial  evidence  seemed  very  conclusive 
against  you." 

44 1  never  understood  how  it  was  that  I  was  so 
suddenly  turned  from  what  had  been  erected  as  my 
gallows,  and  hurried  across  the  lines  under  a  flag 
of  truce." 

44  Well,  sir,  over  on  that  hill  }ronder,  in  one  of 
those  grand  houses,  lives  the  young  lady  who  saved 
your  life." 

44  How  was  it?  And  what  is  her  name?  I  can- 
not tell  you  how  impatient  I  am  to  know  all." 

And  then  Captain  Jackson,  of  Atlanta,  Ga., 
gave  the  full  account  of  how  a  Miss  Cleora  Lyd- 
dell  of  Boston  had  been  taken  prisoner,  tempora- 
rily, and  by  her  own  choice ;  how  that  she  was 
seated  in  front  of  General  and  Mrs.  Stone's  tent 
when  the  supposed  spy  was  being  led  past  to  exe- 
cution ;  and  how  her  fortunate  recognition  of  him 
as  one  of  the  delegates  of  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion, caused  the  general   to  countermand  orders,  and 


210  SELF-GIVING. 

to  direct  that  he  be  sent  over  immediately  to  the 
Union  side. 

"  You  have  no  doubt,  captain,  that  you  have 
the  name  correctly  ?  —  that  it  was  Miss  Cleora 
Lydclell  ?  " 

k*  O,  no,  indeed !  I  passed  several  very  pleas- 
ant hours  with  her  at  our  headquarters  before  her 
return  to  her  hospital  work  on  your  side.  And 
then,  since  the  war,  being  in  the  silk  business  at 
Atlanta,  and  having  large  dealings  with  Lyddell, 
Burrows  &  Co.,  of  this  city,  I  have  become  well 
acquainted  with  her  father  and  mother,  and  have 
repeatedly  met  them  all  at  their  house.  Indeed,  my 
wife  and  I  are  to  dine  with  them  this  afternoon 
at  six  o'clock." 

"Has  Miss  Lyddell  ever  referred  to  this 
incident  ?  " 

uYes,  every  time.  And  she  has  told  me  about 
you,  and  your  studying  to  become  a  missionary ; 
and  the  enthusiastic  way  she  has  gone  on  talking 
of  you  and  your  proposed  life  work,  when  we  have 
been  alone,  together  with  her  blank  silence  on  the 
subject  in  the  presence  of  her  parents,  has  led  me 
to  infer  that  she  has  a  regard  for  you  which  she 
knows    they    would   not    countenance." 

"I  believe  you  are  right,  captain,  and  I  think 
I  may  venture  to  tell  you  a  story  of  this  morn- 
ing, and  then  to  beg  you  to  take  from  me  a  verbal 
message  this  afternoon  to  Miss  Cleora." 

Llewellyn  explained  all.  Not  only  the  circum- 
stances prompted  the  confidence,  but  there  was  such 


RESCUED  AND  BETROTHED.  211 

manliness,  and  sincerity,  and  intelligence  in  the  face 
and  bearing  of  Captain  Jackson,  that  the  sorrowful 
and  bewildered  young1  man  felt  that  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God   he  had   found  a  friend. 

"  At  least  then,  captain,  tell  her  I  am  compelled 
to  forego  the  pleasure  of  meeting  her  this  even- 
ing. Perhaps  you  better  not  give  the  reason.  Do 
not  explain  all.     I  wish  to  do  it  sometime  myself." 

"  All  right :  at  the  Revere  reading-room  this  even- 
ing at  nine  o'clock." 

To  Llewellyn  it  seemed  an  age  until  the  appointed 
evening-hour  for  his  meeting  with  Captain  Jackson. 

"I  assumed,  Mr.  Litchfield,  that  you  would  be 
prompt;    and  you  see  that  I  am  also." 

"Did  you  meet  Miss  Lyddell?" 

"  O,  •  yes !  and  her  father  also,  who  loves  you 
so   well." 

"  Did  she  manifest  any  disappointment  at  my 
inability  to  meet  the  engagement  with  her  this 
evening?" 

"  Yes,  indeed.  And  when  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  be  alone  with  her,  I  told  her  the  whole  story ; 
all  about  your  manly  request  of  her  father  to 
allow  you  to  become  more  than  acquainted  with 
his  daughter,  and  how  he  repelled  you,  and  how 
that,  to  complete  your  preparation  for  your  mis- 
sionary work,  you  longed  for  her  above  all  in  the 
world ;  not  for  a  dollar  of  her  father's  money,  but 
for  herself." 

"  All  true  ;  but  I  did  not  authorize  you  to  fully 
explain  the  situation." 


212  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Yet  it  was  justice  to  her,  that  she  should 
know  it,  and  for  the  present,  at  least,  you  are 
debarred  from  any  opportunity.  The  fact  is,  you 
both    need    me    to    engineer   a    little    for    you." 

"  How  did  Miss  Cleora  receive  the  news  of  my 
strong  attachment  for  her,  and  of  my  venturesome 
request  of  her  father  ?  " 

"News?  It  was  no  news  to  her  that  your 
affections  were  enlisted.  She  had  seen  it,  and  felt 
it,  and  I  assure  you  that  she  reciprocates  all.  She 
did  not  say  so  in  words — they  are  reserved  for 
your  ears  sometime  —  but  it  was  as  plain  to  me 
as  the  sun  at  noonday." 

"  Well,  I  know  not  what  to  do.  The  consent 
of  her  parents  must  be  secured,  and  that  seems 
impossible   for   the   present." 

"  1  am  not  sure  of  that.  I  think  I  will  speak 
to  Lyddell  about  it  myself  to-morrow.  At  least, 
he  will  not  order  his  best  Southern  customer  out 
of  his  office.  But  what  is  this  racket  in  the  street? 
There  must  be  a  fire,  and  near  by.  Do  you  wish 
to  take  a  walk  ?  I  enjoy  seeing  your  Northern 
enterprise    at   fires." 

The  crowd  was  surging  toward  Beacon  street, 
and  the  lurid  glare  of  the  flames,  turning  the  dark- 
ness around  them  almost  into  day,  and  the  fre- 
quent falling  of  cinders  at  their  feet,  told  our 
pedestrians  that  they  would  not  have  far  to  go. 

"  O,  my  God  !  captain,  it  is  the  Lyddell  man- 
sion ! "  and  Llewellyn  instantly  darted  into  the 
middle  of   the  street,  running  faster  than  his  com- 


RESCUED  AND  BETROTHED.  213 

pan  ion  could  follow,  and  in  a  few  moments  was 
in  front  of  the  lordly  dwelling,  which  seemed 
almost   entirely   wrapt   in  a   sheet   of  flame. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyddell  were  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  street,  wringing  their  hands  in  agony  at  the 
sight  of  their  daughter  at  one  of  the  upper  win- 
dows, and  of  the  ineffectual  efforts  of  the  fire- 
men  to    rescue    her. 

Their  ladders  should  easily  have  reached  to  the 
fourth  story,  but,  by  a  strange  fatality,  one  after 
another  was  broken  in  lifting,  and  others,  which 
should  have  been  on  hand,  were  wanting,  and  the 
new  fire-escape,  which  the  papers  had  been  prais- 
ing,   did    not    work. 

The  window  must  be  reached,  and  from  the  out- 
side, that  was  plain.  It  was  out  of  the  question 
to  make  any  entrance  through  the  lower  stories, 
and  attempt  to  ascend  within,  for  even  to  the 
third  story  all  seemed  ablaze,  and  through  doors 
and  windows  the  angry  smoke  and  flames  poured 
forth,  challenging  all  efforts  to  save  the  precious  life. 

There  at  the  window,  bending  over  the  sill  as 
far  as  possible  to  escape  the  suffocating  smoke, 
Llewellyn  saw  Cleora,  calmer  than  any  in  the 
street  below,  watching  the  vain  efforts  of  her  many 
would-be  rescuers,  and  anon  lifting  her  face  toward 
heaven  in  prayer. 

She  saw  her  parents,  and  threw  kisses  to  them  ; 
yes,  and  she  saw  Llewellvn  also,  and  threw  some 
to  him,  while  the  firemen  held  him  back  from  dash- 
ing in  at  the  door. 


214  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Give  me  a  rope  and  I  will  climb  that  light- 
ning rod!"  screamed  the  frantic  man,  while  the 
police  and  firemen  around  hesitated,  even  at  the 
new  thought  which  seemed  only  the  certain 
destruction   of   another   life. 

But  Llewellyn  felt  the  relaxing  of  the  hands 
which  held  him,  saw  his  opportunity,  sprung  for- 
ward, seizing  a  coil  of  rope  from  off  the  hook  and 
ladder  truck,  and  before  any  could  detain  him, 
was  beyond   their   reach   up   the    lightning   rod. 

It  was  hard  work  ;  the  rope  was  heavy,  and  the 
rod  so  small  to  clasp.  His  hands  were  cut  and 
bleeding  before  he  reached  the  third  story,  but  he 
cared  not,  if  only  he  could  keep  on  and  up,  and 
save  her  who  now  watched  him  with  undiverted 
attention,  throwing  words  of  cheer  which  he 
could  not  understand  for  the  noise  of  the  flames 
and  of  the  crowd  below,  but  throwing  also  kisses 
which  meant  worlds  of  encouragement,  and  sum- 
moned   him    to    almost   superhuman    effort. 

From  a  window  of  the  third  story  the  smoke 
and  flame  were  driven  by  the  wind  directly 
across   Llewellyn's   path. 

"  Come   down  !  "    ordered    a   captain    of  police. 

"Never!  Play  into  that  window!"  was  the 
firm,    heroic    reply. 

The  latter  command  was  obeyed,  and  in  a 
moment  Llewellyn  was  upon  the  roof,  working  his 
way  along  the  eaves  to  a  place  directly  over  the 
window,  where  his    love  was  awaiting  his  rescue. 

A  chimney  seemed  right  in  line,  and   to  it  with 


RESCUED  AND  BETROTHED.  215 

great  difficulty  he  fastened  one  end  of  his  rope. 
But  when  lie  had  swung  clear  over  the  eaves,  and 
lowered  himself  to  the  window,  alas  !  it  was  not 
the  right  oue.  The  shouts  of  the  crowd  below, 
intended  to  warn  him  of  his  mistake,  had  been 
unintelligible ;  and,  indeed,  he  had  become  lost  to 
all  but  one  in  the  world. 

There  she  was  but  eight  feet  from  him,  at  the 
next  window. 

"  Darling,  can  you  come  around  to  this  win- 
dow?" was  Llewellyn's  feeble,  almost  fainting 
cry. 

She  disappeared,  but  did  not  come.  The  moments 
were  a  terrible  suspense.  Llewellyn  could  endure 
it  no  longer.  Pushing  from  the  sill,  he  swung  as 
far  out  as  possible,  and  with  the  return  dashed 
through  the  shattered  window  and  was  lost  in  the 
dense  smoke  and  darkness. 

"  Lyddell,  he  will  do  it,  or  die ! "  exclaimed 
Captain  Jackson  to  the  agonized  father  as 
Llewellyn    disappeared    from    view. 

"  No  hope,  sir ;  he,  too,  will  be  overcome  in  a 
moment  by  that  suffocating  smoke,"  was  the  despair- 
ing reply  of  Mr.  Lyddell,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  was  supporting  the  half-unconscious  form  of  his 
wife. 

u  Look,  Lyddell,  the  rope  keeps  moving !  Young 
Litchfield  is  feeling  his  way  along  on  the  floor.  Is 
there  a  door  between  the  rooms?" 

"  Yes,    thank    God !    but   at   the   rear." 

"Lyddell,  if  he   saves   your   daughter,  you   must 


216  SELF-GIVING. 

take  back  what  you  said  to  him  this  morning.  He 
will    have   the   best   right   to    her   life." 

"Well,  if  I  cannot  buy  him  off.  Is  the  rope 
still    moving?" 

A  cheer  rent  the  air  which  could  Lave  been 
heard  almost  to  the  Highlands,  as  Llewellyn 
appeared  at  the  window,  lifted  the  unconscious 
Cleora  over  the  sill  with  the  rope  fastened  under 
her  arms,  and  began  lowering  her  to  the  ground. 

Mr.  Lyddell  and  Captain  Jackson  were  there 
to  receive  with  open  arms,  and  to  carry  her  into 
a  neighboring  house,  whither  friendly  hands  had 
already    conducted   the    bewildered    mother. 

Llewellyn  had  no  time  to  spare,  and  imme- 
diately threw  himself  upon  the  rope  to  descend. 
But  his  strength  had  become  quite  exhausted. 
She  was  safe,  and  the  motive  which  had  nerved 
him  to  dare  and  do  more  than  all  those  veteran 
firemen,  was  gone.  He  could  barely  break  the 
force  of  a  fall,  and  though  he  struck  the  ground 
in  safety,  it  was  with  terribly  lacerated  hands  and 
with  a  jar  sufficient  to  render  him  helpless  for  a 
few    moments. 

Meanwhile  he  was  carried  into  the  same  neigh- 
boring  house,  whither  Cleora  had  preceded    him. 

A  few  minutes'  kindly  attentions  from  many 
willing  hands  quite  restored  them,  and  while  hearty 
congratulations  were  in  progress,  making  all  oblivi- 
ous to  the  burning  dwelling  not  forty  rods  away, 
Captain  Jackson  with  great  dexterity  managed  to 
divide    the    company,    and    to    close     the    folding 


RESCUED  AND  BETROTHED.  217 

doors  upon  Mr.  and   Mrs.  Lyddell  and    Cleora  and 
Llewellyn. 

"  Mr.  Lyddell,  may  I  NOW  ask  your  daughter 
for  her  hand?"  inquired  Llewellyn  as  he  saw  his 
opportunity,  and  arose  from  his  sofa  in  a  defer- 
ential   and    yet    almost    commanding    attitude. 

"  Say  yes,  Walter,"  pleaded  the  mother  ;  "  for  it 
must  be  so.  We  cannot  have  our  way ;  we  have 
tried    long    enough." 

"  Young  man,  I  will  give  you  fifty  thousand 
dollars    to    call    this    square   and    clear    out." 

"  I  do  not  wish  your  money,  sir;  only  her,  if 
she    will    have   me." 

Two  loving  arms  were  quickly  around  the  neck 
of  the  obstinate,  worldly  old  man.  Two  loving 
lips  of  fairest  mould  sought  to  smooth  out  upon 
his  face  the  wrinkles  of  disappointment  and  dis- 
pleasure. 

"  You  shall  neither  of  you,  then,  have  any  of  my 
money ! " 

"We  do  not  wish  it,  father.  God  will  care 
for  Llewellyn  and  me  in  the  work  to  which  he 
has   called    us." 

"  Well,  have  it  your  own  way,  then  ;  but  you  are 
poor,    remember !  " 

But  both  Llewellyn  and  Cleora  felt  rich  as 
they  clapped  each  other  to  their  hearts  and  spoke 
unutterable   words. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

PREPARATIONS     AND    WEDDING. 

THE  day  following,  Mr.  Lyddell  engaged  board 
for  his  family  in  a  neighboring  house  on  the 
same  fashionable  avenue,  securing  for  their  exclusive 
use  both  parlors  and  the  entire  first  floor  above. 
Llewellyn  arranged  in  much  more  humble  style,  with 
a  missionary  on  vacation  from  India,  who  occupied  a 
small  tenement  in  Cambridge,  near  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. This  Rev.  Dr.  Kingsley,  of  the  prosperous 
Methodist  Mission  in  Bareilly,  did  not  forget  that  his 
knowledge  of  the  language  of  many  millions  of 
heathen  was  too  valuable  and  sacred  a  trust  to  be 
rolled  up  and  laid  aside  for  two  years.  Not  only  did 
he  persevere  with  a  reasonable  amount  of  literary 
work  in  Hindi,  but  three  times  a  week  he  met 
LleweUyn  and  Cleora  together  at  her  home,  and  gave 
them  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  the  language 
they  needed  so  soon  to  use. 

Under  all  the  circumstances,  and  in  deference  to 
the  wishes  of  Cleora,  the  question  of  preparation  for 
marriage  was  very  secondary  to  that  of  outfit  for 
missionary  life  in  India.  Although  it  seemed 
impracticable  to  be  ready  for  departure  for  several 

218 


PREPARATIONS  AND  WEDDING.  219 

months,  their  good  judgment  told  them  that  their 
marriage  should  be  one  of  their  last  preparatory 
measures. 

Mr.  Lyddell  very  promptly  consented  to  his 
daughter's  suggestion,  that  she  should  be  credited 
with  a  generous  sum,  reckoned  as  saved  from  what 
would  otherwise  have  been  her  marriage  expenses, 
and  that  all  this  amount  might  be  distributed  as  her 
parting  gifts  to  the  various  local  benevolent  enter- 
prises in  which  she  had  become  personally  interested. 
This  relieved  him  of  the  embarrassment  of  seeming  to 
be  at  all  mean  upon  the  occasion  of  his  only  child's 
graduation  from  parental  guardianship.  Moreover, 
he  insisted  that  she  should  continue  until  departure, 
calling  upon  him  for  all  her  needed  outfit  funds. 

Cleora  determined,  however,  not  to  use  this  liberty 
to  the  extent  of  harming  at  all  the  mission-cause 
either  at  home  or  abroad.  It  was  very  evident  to  her 
that  much  of  her  wardrobe  and  nearly  all  her 
jewelry  were  unsuited  to  the  new  sphere  of  life  to 
which  God  had  called  her.  It  was  wise  for  her  to 
dress  and  to  live  after  the  simple,  humble  style  of 
missionaries  generally.  Even  should  her  father 
reconsider  his  position,  and  again  shower  his  money 
upon  her  in  coming  years,  Cleora  conscientiously 
felt  that  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  make  any  appar- 
ent difference  with  her  among  her  co-laborers,  and 
before  the  eyes  of  the  native  Christians  and  the 
heathen  multitudes.  She'would  have  much  preferred 
to  turn  over  all  such  funds  into  the  general  mission- 
treasury. 


220  SELF-GIVING. 

How  much  to  spend,  as  also  what  articles  to 
purchase,  were  questions  she  could  not  answer  for 
herself,  and  she  was  glad  to  receive  advice  not  only 
from  the  returned  missionary,  Mrs.  Kingsley,  but  also 
from  a  lady  at  the  Rooms,  who  was  in  correspondence 
with  many  missionary  women,  and  had  valuable 
suggestions  gathered  from  a  wide  range  of  experience. 
Both  of  these  friends  were  wise  enough  to  confine 
themselves  to  general  advice,  and  to  leave  Cleora  to 
arrange  her  own  list  of  outfit  as  the  result  of  her  own 
reflections. 

She  learned  that  the  Board  was  accustomed  to 
appropriate,  when  necessary,  for  a  missionary  and  his 
wife,  five  hundred  dollars ;  for  a  single  man  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  for  a  single  woman  two 
hundred  dollars  ;  also  that  at  the  end  of  a  year  after 
reaching  their  destination,  the  farther  grants  may  be 
made  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  one  hundred 
dollars,  and  fift}^  dollars  respectively,  on  application 
to  the  treasurer  of  the  Board. 

Llewellyn  agreed  with  her  that  there  was  much 
wisdom  in  their  limiting  their  outfit  expenses  to  five 
hundred  dollars,  but  he  would  not  consent  to  her 
suggestion  that  he  should  spend  three  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  she  two  hundred  dollars. 

Cleora  arranged  for  the  distribution  of  her  elegant 
wardrobe,  from  which  several  ministers'  wives 
secured  their  best  party  suits,  and  ear-rings  and 
brooches  and  bnicelets  were  scattered  around  as 
souvenirs  of  friendship.  She  retained  one  substan- 
tial, plainly-made   black   silk    dress,  and   her  watch, 


PREPARATIONS  AND  WEDDING.  221 

which,  though  it  cost  five  hundred  dollars,  and  was 
out  of  place  in  missionary  life,  she  could  wear  with  a 
simple  cord,  and  might  so  cover  as  not  to  attract 
attention. 

Neither  arranged  to  take  any  furniture,  nor  did 
they  count  upon  any  clothing  to  last  beyond  a 
second  year,  as  they  had  learned  from  others,  as  also 
by  their  own  experiences  abroad,  that  now,  owing  to 
the  progress  of  commerce,  fresh  supplies  can  either 
be  obtained  readily  everywhere,  or  quickly  sent  from 
England  or  America. 

They  had  all  their  clothing  and  bedding  marked, 
full  lists  of  articles  carefully  written  out  with  their 
approximate  values,  to  be  furnished  the  forwarding 
agent  for  insurance,  and  everything  carefully  packed 
in  well-made  boxes  of  medium  size,  as  being  much 
preferable  to  trunks,  save  what  they  reserved  for  their 
small  steamer  trunk,  thirteen  inches  high,  to  slide 
under  their  state-room  berths. 

They  reduced  their  library  by  a  very  careful  selec- 
tion,' for  they  had  learned  of  the  exceeding  difficulty 
of  preserving  books  from  the  ravages  of  insects  and 
from  the  effects  of  the  climate,  in  Southern  Asia. 
Altogether,  their  freight  on  outfit,  to  be  paid,  as  also 
their  cost  of  passage,  by  the  Board,  was  much  within 
the  specified  six  tons  ship-measurement,  forty  cubic 
feet  to  a  ton. 

Meanwhile  the  duty  on  the  part  of  both,  of  a  special 
medical  preparation,  had  not  been  neglected.  There 
was  not  much,  if  any,  delay  of  departure  on  this 
account,  but  great  care  was  taken  to  allow  no  time  to 


222  SELF-GIVING. 

run  to  waste,  and  earnest  effort  was  made  to  gather  tip 
and  mature  and  supplement  the  considerable,  though 
desultory  knowledge  of  health  and  of  disease  and 
cure  acquired  in  past  years,  and  particularly  since 
each  had  felt  called  to  missionary  life.  Llewellyn 
attended  medical  lectures  regularly,  and  Cleora  took 
private  lessons  and  directions  as  to  reading  from  her 
old  family  physician. 

At  last  the  day  for  the  wedding  arrived.  It  was  in 
the  first  week  of  December,  1867.  An  earty  fall  of 
snow  had  given  the  Bostonians  two  or  three  days  of 
very  fair  sleighing,  and  as  all  preparations  for  both 
departure  for  India  and  the  wedding  were  complete, 
Cleora  arranged  the  evening  before,  that  Llewellyn 
should  call  early  in  the  morning  and  take  with  her  a 
last  drive  behind  her  beautiful  ponies,  whose  new 
owner  was  to  send  for  them  at  noon. 

4'  My  darling,"  said  Llewellyn,  when  they  were 
well  under  way,  out  beyond  the  great  blocks  of 
stone  and  brick  dwellings,  "it  must  be  very  hard  for 
you  to  sacrifice  so  much  of  wealth  and  its  pleasures." 

"  O,  no  ;  it  makes  it  the  easier  to  have  much  to 
give  to  my  Redeemer,  to  whom  I  would  offer  worlds 
if  I  had  them.  Would  not  you  rather  make  me  a 
present  of  one  thousand  dollars,  than  of  one  dollar, 
if  }'ou  could  ?  " 

"  I  am  glad  it  is  so  plain  that  you  do  not  go  for 
for  my  sake." 

Beneath  the  sleigh  robes  her  hands  quickly  found 
their  way  to  his. 

"  Then,  Llewellyn,  you  do  not   love  me   any  the 


PREPAPATIOXS  AND  WEDDIXG.  223 

less  because  I  love  my  Saviour  more,  and  because  it 
is  His  love  that  leads  me  to  the  mission-field  ?  "* 

44  No,  indeed,  Cleora  dear  ;  not  only  is  my  load 
made  lighter,  but  my  heart  goes  out  toward  you  in 
deeper  and  stronger  affection  as  thus  I  see  the  image 
of  Christ  the  more  perfectly  reflected  in  you." 

44  Good-by,  ponies,"  most  cheerfully  said  Cleora  as 
they  alighted  on  return.  And  she  could  not  help  it  — 
the  nigh  one  was  her  pet,  her  saddle  horse  —  so  she 
stopped  a  moment  to  pat  him,  and  put  her  arm 
around  his  neck. 

44  Jacob,"  she  added  to  the  driver,  44be  sure,  for  my 
sake,  to  give  them  extra  oats  to-day  before  they  go." 

It  wras  a  very  simple,  unpretending  service  at  the 
church  at  four  o'clock.  The  bride  was  dressed  in 
white  Indian  muslin,  a  garment  she  had  selected  more 
especially  for  its  utility  in  Southern  Asia,  and  which 
for  this  occasion  was  ornamented  only  with  natural 
flowers.  Margaret  Kilburne,  who  had  that  noon  ar- 
rived irom  Chicago  on  purpose  to  attend  the  wedding 
and  the  morrow's  farewell,  was  Cleora's  first  brides- 
maid. No  ring  was  used,  for  the  missionary  bride  did 
not  wish  at  all  to  encourage  the  heathen  superstitious 
regard  for  jewelry-charms  of  any  kind.  The  father 
went  through  the  form  of  giving  his  daughter  away, 
but  he  could  not  entirely  mask  his  feeling  of  bitter 
opposition  to  the  whole  transaction.  Indeed,  he  had 
anticipated  that  the  mere  formalities  of  the  church- 
service  were  all  that  he  could  anyway  respectably 
endure,  and  so  he  had  arranged  confidentially  with  a 
New  York  business-house  to   summon   him   peremp- 


224  SELF-GIVING. 

torily  by  telegraph',  to  come  immediately  by  the 
five-twenty  train. 

Thus  Mr.  Lyddell  escaped  from  the  two  trying 
ordeals  of  the  informal 'evening  reception  in  his  par- 
lors, and  of  the  public  farewell-meeting  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Mission  Society  the  following  evening. 

"Now,  Cleora,  and  Mr.  Litchfield,"  were  his  part- 
ing words,  on  leaving  for  the  Providence  depot,  "I 
hope  you  will  become  thoroughly  tired  of  this  busi- 
ness in  a  year  or  two,  and  desire  to  come  home. 
When  3011  are  ready,  you  may  draw  on  me  for  all 
needed  funds.  And  I  will  take  you,  sir,  into  part- 
nership, and  give  you  as  good  an  opportunity  as  any 
young   man  in  America." 


CHAPTER  XXL 

HOME   FAREWELLS  AND  INDIA   GREETINGS. 

LLEWELLYN  and  Cleora  found  it  harder  than 
they  had  expected  to  separate  from  kindred 
and  friends.  For  the  daughter  to  press  the  mother's 
lips  for  perhaps  the  last  time,  certainly  for  years,  was 
agonizing.  To  have  a  father  allow  business  to  keep 
him  from  seeing  his  only  child  off  for  the  mission-field 
was  painful  in  the  extreme.  Llewellyn  also  had  bit- 
terness added  to  his  cup  of  sorrow  in  leaving  the 
home  land,  in  that  neither  mother,  brothers  or  sisters 
sympathized  with  him  in  his  purpose  to  labor  among 
the  heathen.  They  thought  that  if  he  must  be  a 
clergyman,  there  was  work  enough  for  him  to  do  at 
home.  Notwithstanding  their  obligations  to  him,  they 
had  allowed  envy  of  his  exceptional  opportunities  of 
foreign  travel  to  grow  and  bring  forth  fruit.  And 
then  for  him  to  throw  away  upon  the  heathen  such  a 
brilliant  alliance  with  one  of  the  first  families  of 
Boston,  was  to  disregard  entirely  their  social  ambitions. 
Though  his  mother  and  both  sisters  were  Christians, 
they  had  never  yet  to  the  measure  of  either  Llewellyn 
or  his  sainted  father,  been  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Him 
who  "  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister." 

225 


226  SELF-GIVING. 

To  all  this  special  hardness  of  the  separation  there 
was  considerable  offset  in  the  thought  that  they  were 
to  be  far  away  from  so  much  inappreciation,  ingrati- 
tude and  want  of  sympathy.  But  those  final  days 
revealed  to  them  the  reality  of  the  kinship  of  a  much 
larger  circle.  They  found  Christ's  promise  verified  to 
those  who  leave  house  or  lands,  or  brethren  or  sisters, 
or  father  or  mother,  and  around  them  truly  clustered 
the  "  hundred-fold  now  in  this  time,"  a  great  company 
of  fathers  and  mothers  in  Israel,  and  of  spiritual 
brethren  and  sisters,  blood  relations,  indeed,  through 
the  precious  blood  of  Jesus,  with  all  their  homes,  and 
lands,  and  possessions  on  Christ's  altar  for  his  cause. 
They  had  never  so  highly  appreciated  the  inner  circle 
of  the  family  of  faith  as  now,  and  it  added  keenness  to 
their  parting  grief  to  leave  behind  so  many  whose 
companionship  would  be  like  that  of  heaven. 

The  public  farewell  service  was  held  in  Tremont 
Temple.  The  lower  floor  was  full  of  representatives 
from  scores  of  churches  in  the  city  and  vicinity. 
Llewellyn  and  Cleora  sat  well  forward  in  the  centre 
of  the  house,  until  his  time  came  to  speak,  after  which 
he  returned  to  her  side  and  stood  with  her  as  the 
moderator  of  the  meeting  said  the  last  formal  good-b}*. 

There  were  some  ministers  on  that  platform  who 
seemed  to  be  strangely  out  of  place,  or  in  place. 
They  looked  on  with  the  most  intense  interest,  and 
}-et  it  was  painfully  evident  that  it  was  the  interest  of 
novelty.  They  had  not  probably  preached  a  mis- 
sionary sermon  for  years,  nor  carried  as  their  own  the 
responsibility  of  their  churches  to  contribute  to  the 


HOME  FAREWELLS  AND  INDIA  GREETINGS.     227 

support  of  foreign  evangelization,  nor  sought  in  all 
their  thousands  of  pastoral  calls  to  lead  any  of  the 
youth  in  their  flocks  to  consider  the  question  of  going 
in  Christ's  name  to  heathen  lands  ;  and  yet  there  they 
were  upon  that  platform,  trying  with  eyes,  and  ears, 
and  smiles,  and  nods,  to  present  for  the  occasion  a  re- 
spectable mission  appearance. 

One  of  them,  a  very  popular  preacher,  the  secretary 
ventured  in  making  arrangements  for  the  meeting,  to 
invite  to  lead  in  prayer.  But  it  proved  very  unfor- 
tunate, for,  though  he  could  have  prayed  very  beauti- 
fully about,  and  all  around  about  America  and  Europe, 
he  knew  next  to  nothing  ot"  the  religious  condition  in 
Asia.  He  spoke  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  Bud- 
dhists in  India,  when  he  should  have  said  Hindus, 
being  fifteen  hundred  years  behind  the  times.  He 
prayed  that  the  doors  for  the  Gospel  might  be  thrown 
open  in  China,  oblivious  of  the  Nan-King  and  Tient- 
sin treaties,  and  of  the  vast  deal  of  evangelizing  work 
which  had  there  already  been  performed.  And  he 
entreated  the  Lord  to  break  in  pieces  the  idols  of 
Mahometanism,  entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  no 
other  object  is  such  an  abomination  to  the  believers 
in  Islam  as  an  idol. 

Another  thing  disturbed  the  serenity  of  the  occa- 
sion. Several  laymen  were  present,  who  were  well 
known  in  their  churches  to  be  entirely  apathetic  upon 
the  subject  of  foreign  missions,  but  who  were  ready 
to  seize  such  an  opportunity  as  this  to  propose  a  col- 
lection as  a  parting  testimonial,  and  thus  without 
acknowledging  how  small  an  amount  they  intended 


228  SELF-GIVWG. 

themselves  to  drop  unobserved  into  the  boxes,  to  make 
an  appearance  of  interest  and  generosity.  In  the 
immediate  society  with  which  they  had  mingled  inti- 
mately for  years,  the}r  had  failed  to  manifest  the 
qualities  essential  to  leadership,  but  here  at  a  public 
union-meeting,  on  an  occasion  of  tearfulness  and 
general  sympathy,  how  difficult,  indeed,  to  decline  to 
follow  their  suggestions. 

The  collection  was  taken,  and  it  amounted  to  three 
hundred  dollars.  Llewellyn  felt  that,  while  there 
might  be  difference  of  judgment  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
gathering  up  all  these  expressions  of  interest  upon 
that  occasion,  it  was  very  plain  what  was  his  duty 
with  regard  to  the  disposal  of  the  money.  Therefore 
he  arose  and  said  : 

"  I  thank  you,  friends,  in  behalf  also  of  Mrs.  Litch- 
field, for  this  generous  testimonial  of  }our  regard  for 
us,  and  the  work  we  are  hoping  to  perform  in  India. 
But  we  feel  that  we  must  ask  you  to  allow  us  to 
remit  this  money  to  the  treasury  of  our  society.  In 
the  matter  of  our  outfit,  the  executive  officers  have 
dealt  with  us  generously,  and  the  better  we  are 
informed,  the  more  certain  we  are  that  the  limits  they 
assigned  to  our  expenditures  were  wise.  Provision 
has  been  made  us  for  all  necessary  cost  in  reaching 
our  field  of  labor;  and  there,  taking  all  things  into 
account,  the  pecuniary  support  which  your  committee 
has  promised  to  allow  us,  is  not  only  sufficient,  but 
generous.  While  we  have  not,  and  shall  not  object 
to  incidental  tokens  of  personal  interest,  we  feel  that 
to  accept  this  large  amount*  when  the  treasury  is  so 


HOME  FAREWELLS  AND  INDIA  GREETINGS.     229 

straitened,  would  be  inexpedient,  and  an  irregularity 
for  whose  consequences  we  would  not  be  held  respon- 
sible." 

A  suppressed  cheer  from  all  parts  of  the  house 
greeted  this  declaration  of  the  young  missionary-elect. 
Nothing  which  had  been  said  during  the  whole 
evening  did  the  cause  of  missions  as  much  good.  It 
was  so  thoroughly  manly,  and  true  to  the  ideal  of  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  adapted  to  create  general 
confidence  in  the  administration  of  the  society.  By 
that  exhibition  of  unselfishness,  and  of  practical  faith 
in  God  in  the  use  of  the  instrumentalities  which  his 
people  had  deliberately  and  prayerfully  chosen,  the 
3Toung  missionaries,  on  the  threshold  of  their  life- 
work,  did  as  much  for  the  cause  at  home  as  do  many 
by  years  of  correspondence,  or  by  months  of  vacation 
service. 

In  a  moment  arose  from  one  of  the  central  pews 
Hon.  James  DeWitt,  a  prominent  merchant  on 
Franklin  street,  and  a  leader  in  one  of  the  West  End 
churches,  and  with  a  clear,  ringing  voice,  he 
declared  : 

"This  incident  makes  me  more  a  friend  of  missions 
than  ever.  If  these  are  the  kind  of  new  missionaries 
being  sent  forth,  I  wish  to  increase  my  investment  in 
the  cause.  Will  the  treasurer  please  take  my  name 
for  a  thousand  dollars  as  a  thank  offering,  to-night  ?  " 

"And  mine  also,"  added  Lawyer  Hobson  of  the 
Calvary  Church,  on  Tremont  street. 

"  Count  me  in  too,"  said  ex-Mayor  Vaughn. 

And  briskly   the  pledges  were   made   for  various 


230  SELF-GIVING. 

sums  all  the  way  down,  until  the  audience  insisted 
upon  the  boxes  being  passed  again,  and  the  thank 
offering  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  general  treasury 
that  evening,  was  ten  thousand  dollars. 

"God  help  us,"  whispered  Llewellyn  to  Cleora  as 
the  result  of  this  unexpected  enthusiasm  was 
announced ;  "  God  help  us  in  our  correspondence 
with  home  Christians,  and  in  any  intercourse,  public 
and  private,  with  them  during  future  vacations,  to 
remember  the  lessons  of  this  evening,  and  keep  the 
cause  ever  uppermost  in  our  thoughts,  with  sincere 
loyalty  for  those  who  are  the  appointed  repre- 
sentatives of  the  churches  in  their  cooperation  with 
us  in  our  mission  work." 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  she  replied  ;  "  I  join  you  in  that 
prayer." 

"  Only  Mrs.  Lycldell  and  Margaret  Kilburne  were 
encouraged  to  accompany  them  to  the  steamer. 
From  the  street  full  of  friends  in  front  of  the  Temple, 
the  four  took  their  seats  in  the  carriage  fur  East 
Boston  and  the  docks  of  the  Cunard  Line. 

Upon  the  deck  and  in  the  state-room  were  many 
lingering  minutes.  It  was  hard  for  Cleora;  it  was 
much  harder  for  Mrs.  Lyddell,  for  she  was  still 
unreconciled  to  the  sacrifice,  and  had  not  yet  turned 
from  her  bitter  disappointment  and  cherished  grief  to 
Him  who  had  made  the  cup  very  sweet  to  her 
daughter's  lips. 

Margaret  assured  them,  that  as  soon  as  possible, 
she  would  follow  and  join  them  in  the  mission  work 
in  Agra. 


HOME  FA  BE  WELLS  AND  INDIA  GREETINGS.     231 

"  Have  faith  in  God,  dear  sister,"  exclaimed 
Llewellyn  with  strong  emphasis;  "have  faith,  and 
the  mountains  in  the  way  will  be  removed  ;  I  know 
it!" 

Margaret  returned  with  the  desolate  mother,  to  keep 
her  company  that  lonely  night;  and  when  the  morn- 
ing broke,  the  steamship  with  its  precious  lives  had 
Weighed  anchor  for  the  far-off*  Eastern  world. 

Liverpool,  Egypt,  Calcutta.  Forty  days,  and  they 
landed  in  India. 

Rev.  Dr.  Duff,  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 
the  great  leader  of  Christian  education  in  India, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Wenger,  of  the  English  Baptist  mis- 
sion, engaged  in  the  important  work  of  translating 
the  Bible  into  Sanscrit,  had  taken  a  row-boat  two 
miles  down  the  Hooghly,  and  were  ready  to  board  the 
steamer  as  it  dropped  anchor,  and  to  welcome  the 
new  missionaries. 

There  were  man}*-  temptations  to  linger  in  Cal- 
cutta, but  both  Llewellyn  and  Cleora  were  very 
anxious  to  hasten  on  to  their  own  field  of  labor. 
They  would  probably  have  some  vacation  op- 
portunity in  the  course  of  a  few  years  to  become 
acquainted  with  this  "city  of  palaces,"  and  they 
could  be  persuaded  to  remain  only  over  Sunday, 
when  Mr.  Litchfield  preached,  to  the  great  delight  of 
the  English-speaking  audiences,  in  the  morning  at 
the  Circular  Road  Chapel,  and  in  the  afternoon  at 
that  of  the  Lall  Bazaar.  The  American  Consul- 
General  Whiting,  who  heard  both  sermons,  observed 
to  a  friend,  that  the  young  man  would  have  certainly 


232  SELF-GIVING. 

commanded  a  five-thousand-dollar  salary  at  home  as 
minister  in  some  leading  city  church. 

A  large  number  of  suggestions  were  made  by  sev- 
eral experienced  missionaries  as  to  the  clothing,  diet 
and  habits  of  the  new-comers,  and  both  Llewellyn 
and  his  bride  were  wise  enough  to  promptly  adopt 
them,  though  it  seemed  a  little  hard  to  throw  away 
those  good  straw  hats  they  had  so  carefully  pre- 
served from  the  last  summer ;  very  difficult  for  Llew- 
ellyn to  commence  cultivating  a  taste  for  curry, 
and  for  both  to  consent  to  take  the  night-train  for 
Allahabad  and  Agra.  To  whirl  through  several 
hundred  miles  of  this  strange,  far-away  country, 
mostly  in  the  dark,  was  a  real  disappointment ;  but 
they  were  assured  it  was  the  only  safe  time  for  for- 
eigners in  the  climate  of  India,  even  at  that  most 
favorable  season  of  the  year. 

Thoughts  of  the  Taj,  of  Shah-Jehan  and  Noor- 
Jehan  and  Mumtaz-i-Mehal,  and  of  Akbar,  and  his 
palace,  filled  the  minds  of  all  other  foreigners  on  the 
train  as  it  n eared  the  famous  city  of  Agra,  but 
Llewellyn  and  Cleora  were  absorbed  with  the 
thought  of  being  at  last  upon  the  threshold  of  their 
life-work.  Here  was  the  centre  of  the  populous 
district,  where  they  were  to  toil  until  death,  seeking 
to  rescue  from  heathenism,  to  gather  converts,  and 
to  establish  various  Christian  institutions. 

Though  there  were  already  two  missionary  families 
in  Agra,  one  of  a  British  society  and  the  other  of 
an  American,  and  either  would  have  given  the  new- 
comers a  hospitable  welcome,  the   latter  decided   to 


HOME  FAREWELLS  AND  INDIA  GREETINGS.     233 

commence  with  as  much  self-reliance  as  possible,  and 
at  once  to  locate  themselves  temporarily  in  the  gov- 
ernment dak  bungalow.  They  had  brought  an  inter- 
preter from  Calcutta,  and  with  the  little  knowledge 
of  the  language  they  had  already  acquired,  they  felt 
as  if  they  ought  to  do  a  good  measure  of  genuine 
pioneer  work. 

Toward  evening  of  that  first  day  they  sought  the 
humble  home  of  two  poor  native  Christians;  one 
old  woman  and  her  crippled  son.  These  had  been 
converted  at  Delhi  in  connection  with  a  station  of 
Mr.  Litchfield's  own  society.  The  greeting  was  cor- 
dial and  demonstrative.  But  what  a  little  begin- 
ning ! 

Surely  alone  this  could  not  justify  the  expectations 
which  had  been  awakened  in  the  mission  rooms  in 
Boston.  This  thatch-covered  mud  hovel  did  not 
shelter  sufficient  encouragement  to  warrant  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new  station  at  so  much  sacrifice,  and 
the  proclamation  to  the  Christian  world  of  grandly 
opening  fields  for  evangelization  in  North  India. 

But  there  are  other  statistics  than  of  mere  numbers 
and  rank  of  converts,  upon  which  mission  enterprises 
should  be  prosecuted.  This  the  new  missionaries 
appreciated,  and  before  dark  they  were  enabled  to 
return  to  their  room  with  glad,  hopeful  hearts. 

Twice  during  their  walk  they  were  asked  by  very 
gentlemanly  appearing  natives,  if  they  had  any  Chris- 
tian books  for  sale.  No  gift  was  solicited  by  these 
heathen  men,  but  only  an  opportunity  to  buy. 

Several  times  in  the  crowded  streets  there  seemed 


234  SELF-GIVING. 

to  be  no  special  effort  on  the  part  of  evidently  high 
caste  natives  to  escape  the  contaminating  touch  of  the 
foreigners,  nor  to  preserve  their  food  from  falling 
under  the  shadow  of  the  pedestrians. 

They  met  a  "  sacred  cow  "  being  actually  driven 
away  from  the  front  of  a  provision  store,  and  by  the 
proprietor,  who  did  not  hesitate  in  the  presence  of  a 
score  of  natives  to  use  a  stout  club  upon  the  heathen 
deity. 

In  a  temple  they  passed  there  were  but  few  wor- 
shippers, and  the  building  was  very  dilapidated. 
These  and  other  evidences  were  unmistakable  of 
important  opening  opportunity  for  missionary  work. 
Beyond  the  tearful  welcome  of  that  humble  native 
home,  they  could  see  a  multitude  being  prepared  to 
greet  the  Saviour  they  had  come  to  introduce. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

AT   THE    DAK    BUNGALOW. 

THE  temporary  home  of  the  new  missionaries  was 
one  of  the  rude,  economical  lodging  houses, 
built  by  the  government  for  the  use  of  travellers,  at 
intervals  along  the  highways  and  in  all  the  principal 
cities  and  towns.  They  are  in  charge  of  native 
keepers,  more  trustworthy  than  the  average  of  hotel 
proprietors  in  Europe,  Great  Britain  and  America, 
who  become  for  the  time  being  the  travellers'  servant 
if  desired,  procuring  whatever  the  market  affords  at 
printed  prices,  regularly  revised  by  government 
inspectors.  The  rooms  are  furnished  only  with 
chairs,  tables,  bedsteads  and  mattresses,  so  that  the 
occupant  must  provide  all  table  and  bed  linen,  all 
dishes  and  blankets.  Of  the  latter  especially  every 
traveller  in  the  Orient  finds  it  necessary  to  carry  a 
generous  supply,  for  the  nights  are  often  very  cold 
and  penetrating,  notwithstanding  the  intense  daily 
heat. 

The  first  evening  at  the  dak  bungalow  the 
missionaries  of  the  other  societies,  and  nearly  all  of 
the  few  native  Christians  in  the  city,  gathered  to  add 
their  greetings   to    the    new    messengers   of    Christ. 

235 


236  SELF-GIVING. 

Among  the  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
heathen  of  Agra,  there  was  only  a  single  little  room 
full  of  those  who  knew  experimentally  of  God  and  of 
the  way  of  everlasting  life.  Bat,  though  of  different 
branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  they  were  all  one  in 
heart  and  hand.  None  felt,  in  the  presence  of  such 
vast  fields  for  evangelistic  enterprise,  that  there  was 
any  encroachment  upon  their  work.  Indeed  through- 
out all  heathendom  that  is  a  difficulty  seldom  con- 
templated, except  by  those  who  are  unduly  restful  in 
their  work,  over-anxious  to  guard  their  statistics,  and 
reluctant  to  be  stimulated  b}r  fraternal  emulation. 

Learning  that  the  natives  were  quite  familiar  with 
the  hymn  in  Hindi,  and  that  they  were  accustomed  to 
sing  it  in  the  same  tune,  Llewellyn  requested  that 
before  the  company  separated,  they  should  sing 
together,  he  and  Cleora  in  English,  they  in  the 
language  of  over  a  hundred  millions  of  India's  vast 
population  :  — 

Blest  be  the  tie  that  hinds 

Our  hearts  in  Christian  love; 
The  fellowship  of  kindred  minds 

Is  like  to  that  above. 

Before  our  Father's  throne 

We  pour  our  ardent  prayers; 
Our  fears,  our  hopes,  our  aims  are  one, 

Our  comforts  and  our  cares. 

Never  had  these  two  verses  sounded  more  sweetly 
since  John  Fawcett  penned  them  nearly  a  century 
before. 


A  T  THE  DAK  B  UKGAL 0 W.  237 

One  of  the  first  callers  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  British  army  stationed  at  the  Agra  fort.  He  was 
not  a  professed  Christian,  but  thoroughly  in  sympathy 
with  the  changed  attitude  of  his  government,  since 
the  mutiny,  towards  missionaries  and  native  converts 
in  India.  In  colonial  politics  he  was  an  ardent  dis- 
ciple of  the  school  of  the  late  viceroy,  Lord  Lawrence, 
and  a  believer  in  the  official  statement  made  by  the 
Indian  government  to  Parliament,  in  which  it 
acknowledges  "  the  great  obligation  under  which  it  is 
laid  by  the  benevolent  exertions  made  by  six  hundred 
missionaries,  whose  blameless  example  and  self-deny- 
ing labors  are  infusing  new  vigor  into  the  stereotyped 
life  of  the  great  populations  placed  under  English 
rule,  and  are  preparing  them  to  be  in  ever}'  way 
better  men  and  better  citizens  of  the  great  empire  in 
which  they  dwell." 

"  Colonel  Wright,"  inquired  Llewellyn,  "what  do 
you  anticipate  will  be  the  returns  of  the  coming 
census  ?  " 

"No  doubt,  Mr.  Litchfield,  a  large  advance  upon 
the  figures  of  the  last  report.  We  shall  not  fall  much 
short  of  two  hundred  and   forty  million  population." 

"  And  how  are  these  immense  numbers  divided  ?  " 
asked  Cleora. 

"  Well,  madam,  almost  seventy  million  will  be 
found  to  live  in  Bengal  and  Assam  ;  forty-five  million 
in  the  Northwest  Provinces  and  Oudh  ;  twenty  mil- 
lion in  the  Punjab;  forty  million  in  Central  India, 
including  the  Nizam's  Dominions,  Berars  and  Raj- 
pootana ;   forty  million    in  the    Madras   Presidency, 


233  SELF-GIVING. 

including  Mysore,  Coorg  and  Travancore  ;  and 
twenty-five  million  in  the  Bombay  Presidency,  includ- 
ing Sindh." 

"  But,  Colonel,  I  had  special  reference  to  the  divi- 
sions of  this  immense  population  according  to 
religious  faith." 

"That,  Mrs.  Litchfield,  is  somewhat  more  uncer- 
tain. In  the  process  of  religious  unsettlement  that  is 
going  on  among  this  people,  it  is  not  so  easy  often  to 
locate  the  natives  religiously  as  geographically.  But 
there  are  probably  over  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
million  of  Hindus,  fifty-five  million  of  Mahometans, 
and  ten  million  of  others,  including  Sikhs,  Buddhists, 
Jains,  Catholics,  Protestants  and  the  believers  in  a 
variety  of  aboriginal  faiths." 

"  How  large  a  following  do  }tou  estimate  Roman 
Catholicism  and  Protestantism  have  respectively  ? " 
inquired  Llewellyn. 

"  The  Catholics  claim,  sir,  the  larger  number ;  but 
I  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  numbers  are  about 
equal ;  say  three  hundred  thousand  each." 

"  Were  you  here  during  the  fearful  mutiny?" 
interposed  Cleora,  amid  these  bewildering  statistics. 

"  O,  yes;  and  for  ten  years  before,  excepting  my 
furlough.  I  participated  in  the  assault  of  Delhi, 
through  the  Cashmere  gate,  and  in  the  relief  of  Luck- 
now.  I  was  at  the  slaughter  pen  of  Cawnpore,  alas, 
too  late  !  and  divided  with  the  soldiers  those  bloody 
tresses  of  women's  and  children's  hair.  We  swore 
upon  them :  we  kept  our  oaths.  Before  the  close  of 
1857,  a  dead  sepoy  stood  for  every  hair." 


A  T  THE  D A K  B  UNGALO  W.  239 

Not  long  after,  on  an  early  morning  walk  to  a 
native  merchant,  who  had  invited  Lleweltyn  with  his 
interpreter  to  a  religions  conversation,  he  met  one  of 
the  most  familiar  scenes  in  India.  Under  a  tree  was 
a  seat  of  common  stone  and  mortar,  carved  with  the 
obscene  Linga  and  Yoni  of  Siva  and  Durga,  occupied 
by  a  Brahman,  before  whom. prostrate  in  the  dust  say- 
ing his  prayers,  was  a  devout  Hindu,  his  offering  in 
his  hands,  and  the  broad  color  marks  of  his  caste  on 
his  forehead, 

After  the  brief  ceremony,  and  the  god  had  pocketed 
the  money,  Llewellyn  asked  the  privilege  of  making  a 
few  inquiries. 

"  Certainly,"  was  the  gentlemanly  reply,  "if  it  is 
only  for  information." 

"  Are  Brahmans,  then,  thoroughly  honest  in  encour- 
aging the  worship  paid  them  by  the  other  classes  of 
society  ?  " 

"Not  all.  Many,  influenced  by  foreign  education 
and  ideas,  have  lost  faith  in  the.  divinity  of  the  Brah- 
minical  priesthood,  and  still  encourage  what  they 
believe  is  deception  for  the  sake  of  gain.  But  the 
majority  of  us  are  confident  we  are  the  superior  race, 
because  the  divinity  resides  in  us." 

"Is  it  not  a  fact  that  in  repeated  texts  of  your 
ancient  Vedas  we  may  read,  4  There  is,  in  truth,  but 
one  Deity,  the  Supreme  Spirit,  the  Lord  of  the 
universe,  whose  work  is  the  universe  ?  '  Is  it  not  also 
a  fact,  that  even  in  your  most  sacred  and  venerable 
Rig-Veda  no  indication  is  given  of  your  doctrine  of 
the  transmigration  of  souls  ?  " 


240  SELF-GIVING. 

"  You  may  s;iy  so  ;  and  }~et  for  interpretation  and 
full  instruction  we  need  to  consult  the  Institutes  of 
Menu,  the  Ramavana  and  Maha-bharata,  and  the 
Puranas  and  Tontras." 

"  How  many  objects  of  worship  does  Hinduism 
allow  ?  " 

"  Three  hundred  and  thirty  million,  of  whom  we 
Biahmans  are  the  superior  caste,  ranked  only  by  our 
holy  triad,  Brahma  the  Creator,  Vishnu  the  Preserver, 
and  Siva  the  Destroyer." 

Probably  Cleora  came  to  realize  the  most  speedily 
the  strength  and  perplexity  of  the  Hindu  caste-system. 
She  found  the  servant-question  the  most  difficult  part 
of  their  arranging  for  temporary  housekeeping  in  the 
dak  bungalow.  It  was  very  evident  she  must  have 
help,  or  give  up  all  missionary  responsibility  beyond 
domestic  care  ;  and  whether  she  would  be  equal  to 
the  latter  while  unacclimated  was  far  from  certain. 

Few  women  could  be  hired,  for,  as  a  rule,  they  are 
all  married  off  by  their  parents  in  childhood,  and  are 
the  slaves  of  others.  But  hosts  of  men  were  clamor- 
ing for  domestic  employment.  Yet  each  applicant 
would  positively  decline  to  do  anything  forbidden  by 
his  caste. 

To  an  intelligent  young  man  she  said,  "I  will  hire 
}tou  to  do  errands  for  me." 

'*  O,  no,  mem  sahib,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  am  a  durwan, 
not  a  bharer.      I  keep  gates." 

Another  accepted  the  engagement,  and  would 
assist  her  in  dusting,  but  refused  to  do  any  sweeping. 

So  she  had  also  to  hire  a  sweeping  mehter,  but  he 


A  T  THE  DAK  B  UNGA  L O  W.  241 

would  not  consent  to  bring  any  water  to  the  house ; 
that  belonged  to  the  beestie  caste. 

As  none  of  these  would  wait  on  the  table  and  wash 
the  dishes,  Cleora  was  obliged  to  hire  a  kitmutgar, 
and  then  a  bowashi  to  do  the  cooking. 

Yet,  alas,  the  bowashi  would  break  his  caste  if  he 
should  clean  a  pot  or  kettle,  and  the  kitmutgar  would 
touch  nothing  but  dishes,  so  she  was  compelled  to 
engage  the  services  of  a  masalchi.  Moreover  she  had 
to  secure  a  dhobee  to  wash  clothes,  and  a  durgee  to 
sew  them  after  every  washing,  for  the  thrashing  and 
stone-pounding  of  a  dhobee  are  sure  to  demolish  but- 
tons and  open  seams  every  time,  even  with  newest 
garments,  in  India. 

Cleora  thought  she  would  dispense  with  a  khansawa, 
or  bazaar-man,  but  learned  her  mistake  before  long, 
and  as  the  heat  rapidly  advanced,' punka-wallahs  were 
necessary  to  keep  the  great  fans  swinging. 

When  Llewellyn  bought  a  horse,  not  one  of  all  these 
lazy  caste-servants  would  touch  it,  to  feed,  clean  or 
harness  it.  So  it  was  found  in  India  that  a  syce  is  as 
needful  as  a  horse. 

All  these  twelve  servants,  or  at  least  the  ten,  leav- 
ing out  the  punka-wallahs,  did  not  accomplish  as  much 
work  as  one  Irish  girl  or  one  Chinaman.  Yet  it  was 
a  satisfaction, to  find  that  the  total  expense  of  them 
all  —  they  feeding  themselves — did  not  exceed  that 
of  an  ordinary  house  servant  in  America  or  England. 

Half  of  the  time  of  the  new  servants  was  taken  up 
in  keeping  out  of  each  other's  way  and  thus  avoiding 
the  breaking  of  caste ;  and  notwithstanding  the  larger 


242  SELF-GIVING. 

proportion  of  the  remaining  half  was  spent  in  idleness, 
they  were  indispensable. 

One  afternoon,  while  the  tedious  negotiations  were 
still  pending  for  the  purchase  of  suitable  ground  for 
the  new  mission  buildings,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield 
were  invited  to  attend  a  wedding  in  a  native  Christian 
home.  A  converted  Brahman  of  the  Church  Society 
mission  was  to  officiate  at  the  ceremony,  and  all  the 
Agra  missionaries  were  to  be  present.  Little  did  they 
anticipate  the  touching  glimpse  of  heaven,  with  which 
they  were  to  be  privileged. 

The  two  were  made  one  according  to  the  beautiful 
ritual  of  the  Anglican  Establishment.  But  not 
many  minutes  after,  the  noble  form  of  the  native 
preacher  sank  suddenly  to  the  floor.  It  proved  a 
fatal  attack  of  heart  disease.  For  a  few  moments 
he  spoke  beautifully  to  those  around,  including  several 
prominent  Hindu  neighbors,  urging  Jesus  Christ  as 
the  best  of  all  friends  in  death  and  in  life. 

Then  it  occurred  to  one  of  the  missionaries,  that 
according  to  Indian  law,  no  marriage  is  legal  without 
the  signature  of  the  officiating  clergyman.  So  as 
promptly  as  possible  the  certificate  was  filled,  and  a 
pen  placed  in  the  dying  hand. 

u  My  name  you  wish?"  whispered  the  converted 
Brahman.  "  There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

"  Yes,  dear  brother,  Jesus  only,"  replied  the  tearful 
but  enraptured  missionary,  whose  labors  had  been 
blessed  to  leading  this  soul  from  darkness  into  light ; 
"  yet  now  we  want  your  name  on  this  paper." 


A T  THE  DA K  B  UNGALO IV.  243 

"  My  name  ?  I  have  no  name  but  the  Lamb's 
name  upon  my  forehead." 

His  pen  began  to  move  on  the  paper.  At  least  it 
would  answer  for  his  mark,  which  they  could  witness. 
The  hand  dropped.  The  eyes  closed.  They  looked 
at  the  signature. 

It  was  only  —  "  Jesus." 

As  they  separated,  a  heathen  Brahman  was  heard  to 
pray,  "  O,  thou,  the  Christian's  God,  turn  thou  my 
heart." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


VISITS   TO   DELHI   AND    CAWNPOKE. 


WHILE  it  was  a  pleasure  for  Cleora  to  listen  to 
the  songs  of  the  natives  and  to  join  with 
them  in  singing  English  tunes,  particularly  those 
which  had  been  her  favorites  for  }Tears  at  religious 
meetings  and  in  her  private  devotions,  the  sugges- 
tion came  to  her  one  day  as  she  overheard  casually 
some  purely  native  melodies,  "Why  not  use  their 
own  music  to  Christian  hymns  ?  " 

The  more  she  studied  the  question,  the  more  con- 
vinced she  was  that  the  new  principle  would  be 
a  correct  one,  and  that  in  this  direction  it  was  possi- 
ble to  contribute  very  largely  to  both  the  emotional 
and  the  devotional  character  of  the  native  service  of 
soncr 

This  new  task  was  by  no  means  an  easy  one. 
Cleora  had  to  spend  much  time  and  exercised  great 
patience  in  listening  to  the  humorous,  bacchanalian, 
patriotic  and  war  songs  of  the  natives,  and  to  their 
anthems,  carols,  lays,  ballads,  dirges  and  requiems, 
and  then  in  selecting  what  was  suitable  for  her 
purpose  and  recording  it  on  paper.  But  when  her 
adaptations  of  tune  and  hymn  were  completed,  and 

244 


VISITS  TO  DELHI  AND  CAWNPORE.  245 

she  had  drilled  a  few  of  the  young  girls  to  the  task 
they  accomplished  with  surprising  eagerness  and 
rapidity,  the  result  was  very  gratifying. 

But  this  labor,  added  to  her  domestic  and  other 
missionary  cares,  proved  too  much  for  Cleora's 
strength,  and  it  became  evident  that  she  must  have 
rest. 

Every  day  for  a  few  weeks  she  broke  off  from  her 
severe  routine  of  work,  and  spent  an  hour  or  two  in 
the  beautiful  grounds  of  the  Taj.  But  evidently 
this  was  no  real  rest  to  her.  As  well  call  it  rest  to 
Jisten  for  an  hour  to  the  most  eloquent  orator  of  the 
world,  or  to  the  most  celebrated  songstress,  or  to 
study  for  the  same  length  of  time  in  any  of  the 
famous  art-galleries  of  the  Old  World.  Never  were 
words  more  eloquent  than  the  story  and  the  costli- 
ness and  the  tracery  of  this  vast  marble  mausoleum. 
Never  was  music  more  entrancing  than  this  Mogul 
song  in  architecture  to  the  memory  of  Shall- Jehan's 
love  for  the  favorite  of  his  harem.  And  never  had 
Cleora  been  so  moved  in  the  presence  of  any  work 
of  human  art,  as  when  for  the  first  time  she  entered 
the  vast  gateway  to  the  grounds,  and  the  peerless 
structure,  which  had  required  the  labor  of  thousands 
of  men  for  over  a  score  of  }rears,  burst  full  upon  her 
vision.  Neither  she  nor  Llewellyn  were  the  first  to 
shed  tears  at  that  introductory  moment,  overborne 
by  a  pathos  no  language  can  describe  and  no  imagi- 
nation can  realize. 

It  was  evident  she  must  go  somewhere  for  rest, 
where  not  only  she    could    feel   free   from   personal 


246  SELF-GIVING. 

responsibility,  but  the  Taj  was  out  of  sight  and 
sound,  and  its  other  nameless  influences  could  create 
no  delightful  weariness. 

Neither  Delhi  nor  Cawnpore,  filled  as  are  both 
with  so  many  thrilling  memories,  and  containing  as 
does  the  former  vast  piles  of  fascinating  Mogul 
architecture,  were  exactly  the  places  to  be  chosen, 
but  to  these  neighboring  cities  were  the  only  invita- 
tions she  had  yet  received,  and  she  decided  first  to 
visit  a  week  among  the  missionaries  in  the  former,  as 
being  the  less  exciting. 

Meanwhile  Llewellyn  had  secured  ground  and  was., 
arranging  for  building.  Why  he  should  have  bought 
with  mission  money  two  full  acres  of  land  in  the 
suburbs  of  Agra,  would  no  longer  be  a  mystery  to  one 
who  had  travelled  in  hot,  dusty  and  malarious 
Oriental  countries.  Mission  premises  require  the 
isolation  and  the  breathing  room,  not  for  comfort 
simply,  but  for  health,  for  quiet,  and  for  opportunity 
of  enlargement. 

Yet  this  limit  had  been  placed  by  the  Rooms  upon 
his  expenditure  of  the  society's  money.  But  the 
block  of  land  contained  three  acres,  and  the  Hindu 
real  estate  agent  of  one  of  the  old  rajahs  would  not 
consent  to  any  division.  There  seemed  no  other  way, 
as  plenty  of  time  was  allowed,  than  for  Llewellyn  to 
buy  the  extra  acre  himself,  promising  to  pay  in  five 
years  at  two  hundred  rupees,  or  nearly  one  hundred 
dollars  per  year. 

Little  did  he  dream  of  the  world  of  trouble  this  was 
to  bring  him  during  all  his  missionary  life.     It  became 


VISITS  TO  DELHI  AND  C AWN  PORE.  247 

noised  about  at  home  that  Mr.  Litchfield  had  gone 
into  real  estate  speculation.  Some  believed  he  was 
making-  a  large  fortune  ;  others  that  he  was  squander- 
ing mission  funds.  It  would  perhaps  have  been  wiser 
for  him  to  have  given  the  land  immediately  to  the 
Society,  but  he  did  not  anticipate  the  unreasonable- 
ness of  many  of  the  home  Christians.  Again  and 
again  the  appropriations  for  the  Agra  mission  were 
cut  down,  because  of  the  supposed  wealth  represented 
by  one  acre  of  suburban  land,  which  could  be  divided 
into  city  lots,  and  crowded  with  spacious  stores  and 
elegant  private  residences. 

In  vain  Llewellyn  protested  that  the  land  was  not 
worth  much  over  five  hundred  dollars.  One  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  American  Foreign  Mission  Society, 
who  owned  but  fifty  feet  front  on  Columbus  Avenue, 
Boston,  never  could  reconcile  himself  to  a  missionary 
having  ten  times  as  much  ground  in  the  outskirts  of  a 
great  city.  Whenever  a  returned  missionary  from 
India  visited  Boston,  or  a  round-the-world  tourist  was 
interviewed  at  the  Rooms,  the  anxious  inquiry  of 
several  was  sure  to  be  regarding  the  speculative 
tendencies  and  luxurious  habits  of  the  Agra  mission- 
aries. 

Not  all  this  gossip,  indeed,  reached  the  ears  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Litchfield,  and  yet  enough  of  it  to  make 
them  considerably  indignant. 

"  Whatever  they  say,  that  purchase  shall  stand," 
declared  Llewellyn,  as  he  brought  his  foot  down  with 
an  emphasis,  of  course  very  unministerial  and  unmis- 
sionary. 


248  SELF-GIVING. 

"  I  say  so  too,"  added  Cleora ;  "  and  I  would  like 
to  give  them  a  piece  of  my  mind." 

The  fact  was  that  the  climate  had  beffim  to  tell 
upon  their  temper.  They  had  lost  no  measure  of 
their  piety,  but  only  a  very  appreciable  amount  of 
nerve  power  of  self-control.  At  home  they  had  not 
conceived  it  possible  for  them  ever  to  write  severe 
and  sarcastic  letters  to  the  mission  leaders  of  their 
church,  nor  did  they  dream  that  love  so  pure  and 
strong  as  theirs  toward  each  other  could  ever  allow 
the  faintest  trace  of  a  domestic  quarrel;  but,  ah,  mis- 
sionaries as  well  as  ministers  are  after  all  very  much 
like  other  good  Christian  people.  Their  nerves  also 
can  become  unstrung,  their  best  judgment  be  carried 
away,  their  tempers  roiled. 

The  Delhi  missionaries  conducted  Cleora  to  the 
celebrated  citadel  with  its  gorgeous  pavilion  where 
stood  '*  the  peacock  throne  "  worth  thirty  millions  of 
dollars,  to  the  Jumna  Musjid,  the  largest  mosque  in 
India,  to  the  often  described  Kutab  Minar,  the  loftiest 
column  in  the  world,  to  the  Cashmere  gate  where 
Anglo-Saxon  heroism  was  so  strikingly  illustrated,  and 
then  up  and  down  Chandni  Chowk,  the  Broadway  of 
Delhi  and  the  most  curious  avenue  furnished  by  any 
city  in  any  land. 

Cleora  was  entertained  very  hospitably  by  the  mis- 
sionary family  which  she  visited,  but  evidently  a  very 
different  spirit  was  entertained  toward  any  who  might 
represent  the  home  administration  or  the  home 
churches. 

"  We  want  no  more  delegates  to  interfere  with  our 


VISITS  TO  DELHI  AND  CA  IVNPORE.  249 

work,"  remarked  Mr.  Twining  one  evening.     "  They 
better  all  stay  at  home  and  leave  us  alone." 

"  Then,  do  I  understand,"  observed  Cleora,  "  that 
you  would  reduce  the  executive  officers  and  the 
leaders  of  our  ministry  and  laity  in  Great  Britain  and 
America  to  mere  financial  agents  to  collect  and  for- 
ward to  us  mission  funds  ?  " 

"Precisely.  They  cannot  know  the  field  as  we 
know  it ;  and  their  intermeddling  is  certain  to  be  a 
blundering  and  a  hindrance." 

"  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Twining,"  continued  Cleora,  "  I 
never  heard  any  other  missionary  express  such  views. 
It  seems  to  me  altogether  best  that  this  should  be  a 
mutual  responsibility.  It  is  too  great  for  us  alone,  and 
the  home  Christians  need  the  constant  obligation  so 
thoroughly  to  inform  themselves  that  they  may  be 
able  to  counsel  with  us,  and  often  to  guide  us  as  well 
as  to  be  guided  by  us.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  hope- 
ful signs  of  the  times  appears  to  me  to  be  the  prospect 
of  more  numerous  delegations  from  the  churches,  both 
official  and  unofficial,  personally  examining  and 
reporting  our  work,  its  needs  and  its  methods." 

"  They  should  save  their  travelling  money,  and 
relieve  the  pressure  upon  such  as  my  colleague  in  the 
other  house,"  still  persisted  the  obstinate  Englishman, 
specially  loath  to  be  refuted  by  a  woman. 

"I  think  I  have  discovered,"  replied  Cleora,  "the 
foundation  of  your  colleague's  embarrassment.  He 
does  not  sufficiently  exercise  the  grace  of  self-denial 
in  the  matter  of  his  own  benevolences.  Surrounded 
all  the  while  by  a  vast  cloud  of  heathen,  we  have  no 


250  SELF-GIVING. 

greater  pleasure  than  that  for  their  sake  of  sacrifice. 
We  would  go  without  food,  to  reach  with  the  Gospel 
the  larger  number,  increase  the  attendance  upon 
our  schools,  and  hasten  the  qualification  of  those 
who  may  be  prominent  lights  in  the  dense  dark- 
ness. But  this  is  a  gratification  we  should  not  indulge 
to  the  extent  of  rendering  our  salaries  insufficient 
for  our  living.  Mr.  Sage  is  supporting  three  stu- 
dents out  of  his  own  funds,  has  adopted  a  prett\'  little 
waif,  subscribed  fifty  pounds  toward  }Tour  chapel,  and 
cannot  say  no  to  the  next  call  upon  his  charity." 

On  the  through  train  to  Cawnpore  Cleora  was 
accompanied  by  a  missionary  residing  in  Lahore,  and 
was  delighted  to  learn  directly  of  the  evangelizing 
situation  throughout  the  Punjab,  as  also  in  the  south- 
ern border  of  Cashmere.  It  seemed  to  her  that,  even 
in  the  suppression  of  the  mutiny,  the  British  main  re- 
liance was  upon  the  natives  of  the  Punjab,  so  in  the 
conquest  of  Christianity  over  Hindooism  and  the 
Mahometan  ism  of  India,  one  of  the  chief  elements  at 
least  in  the  struggle  will  be  the  native  strength  re- 
cruited for  Emanuel  in  that  great  Northwestern 
region  between  the  Sutlej  and  the  Upper  Indus. 

At  Cawnpore  the  scenes  of  saddest  possible  mem- 
ories were  all  visited  ;  the  place  of  Wheeler's  en- 
trenchment ;  the  old  well ;  the  river  bank ;  the 
graves  of  the  martyr-missionaries;  the  memorial 
church;  and  especially  the  well  where  hundreds  of 
women  and  children,  "the  dying  with  the  dead," 
were  cast,  surmounted  now  by  a  beautiful  marble 
angel,  whispering  —  Peace ! 


VISITS  TO  DELHI  AND  CA  WNPOEE.  251 

In  the  mission  work  Cleora  could  not  help  noticing 
that  the  Americans  seemed  to  take  hold  more  natu- 
rally and  efficiently  than  their  English  associates.  It 
appeared  easier  for  them  to  be  at  one  with  the  people. 
Their  labor  manifested  special  enterprise,  and  evi- 
dently the  more  intelligent  of  the  natives  realized  that 
the  Americans  were  not  their  conquerors.  At  Delhi, 
her  English  hosts  always  had  wine  on  the  table  ;  but 
her  Cawnpore  American  mission-friends  were  believers 
in  total  abstinence,  and  Cleora  felt  that  herein  was- the 
secret  of  somewhat  of  the  difference  of  success. 

She  observed,  also,  that  preaching  to  heathen  is  very 
much  like  preaching  to  Christians,  in  that  it  largely 
depends  upon  the  preacher's  ability  to  preach.  Her 
host  had  a  large  audience  on  Sunday,  and  held  its 
attention  perfectly,  while  his  colleague  spoke  to  a 
handful,  and  half  of  them  did  not  seem  to  listen. 

"I  really  pity  you,"  thought  Cleora;  "for  you  do 
not  dream  of  the  secret  of  your  failure." 

One  of  the  Cawnpore  missionary  women  was  on  the 
point  of  returning  home,  dragging  her  husband  with 
her,  though  they  had  not  been  upon  the  field  quite 
five  }-ears.  But  she  had  a  physician's  certificate,  de- 
claring that  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  leave  that  cli- 
mate for  two  years,  at  least,  and  that  had  settled  it. 

Cleora  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  certificate  was 
an  imposition,  granted  by  an  unbeliever  in  missions, 
to  further  a  supposed  desire  for  vacation.  So  she 
asked  him  to  examine  her  case.  He  looked  at  her 
tongue,  felt  her  pulse,  and  then  declared  that  her  life 
depended  upon  her  immediate  return  to  America. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

RETRENCHMENT    ORDERED. 

THE  first  year  was  chiefly  occupied  in  the  study 
of  the  language,  and  in  the  erection  of  the  mis- 
sion buildings.  It  was  very  difficult  for  Llewellyn 
and  Cleora  to  find  a  competent  teacher.  Indeed,  after 
several  discouraging  experiments,  the}r  concluded 
the  only  way  was  to  be  their  own  teachers,  using 
their  native  pundits  merely  as  a  pump  would  use  a 
cistern. 

Many  temptations  were  thrown  in  their  path  to 
divert  attention  in  part  from  the  all-important  com- 
mencement of  a  successful  missionary  career  —  the 
thorough  acquisition  of  the  language.  Mr.  Litchfield 
was  invited  to  hold  a  regular  preaching  service  with 
the  English  officers  and  soldiers  in  the  fort ;  and  the 
surgeon  of  the  hospital,  appreciating  that  the  ministry 
of  woman  is  often  better  than  the  medicine  and  skill 
of  the  physician,  and  learning  of  Mrs.  Litchfield's 
experience  in  the  American  army,  cordially  invited 
her  to  come  frequently  to  his  wards. 

A  wealthy  Scotch  merchant  of  Agra  wished  Llew- 
ellyn to  become  the  tutor  of  his  son;  and  a  promi- 
nent Brahman  of  the  advanced  school  —  a  member  of 

252 


RETRENCHMENT  ORDERED.  253 

the  Brahmo  Som'aj  —  desired  to  engage  Cleora's  ser- 
vices two  hours  a  day  in  the  instruction  of  his  wife 
and  daughters  in  English  and  music.  But  fortunately 
all  such  temptations  were  resisted,  and  it  was  a  sur- 
prise to  the  other  missionaries  to  see  these  new-comers 
able  in  a  few  months  to  carry  on  a  very  satisfactory 
conversation  with  the  natives,  and  Mr.  Litchfield 
qualified  to  lead  in  prayer  in  Hindi,  and  even  to  ven- 
ture on  simple  public  address. 

In  part,  indeed,  the  secret  was  the  start  of  several 
months'  instruction  by  that  returned  missionary,  in 
the  home  land  ;  but  chiefly  their  success  was  due  to 
the  singleness  of  purpose  with  which  they  pursued  the 
object  of  language-acquisition,  and  the  settled  firm- 
ness of  their  resolution  to  resist  all  temptations  to  be 
diverted  by  other  work. 

It  was  found  very  much  more  difficult  than  they 
had  supposed  to  decide  upon  a  plan  for  building. 
Four  thousand  dollars  had  been  appropriated  b}^  the 
Society,  and  with  this  amount  Llewellyn  and  Cleora 
would  have  preferred  to  build  a  single  house  with 
chapel,  dwelling  and  school,  all  under  one  large, 
high  roof. 

But,  then,  the  English  and  American  travellers 
were  daily  passing  through  Agra,  and  the  new  mission 
premises  would  be  under  constant  inspection,  that  is, 
upon  the  outside,  by  those  who  would  largely  mould 
the  mission  sentiment  at  home.  If  all  the  depart- 
ments of  the  station  should  be  in  one  building,  nine 
out  of  every  ten  foreigners  would  report  that  the  Agra 
missionaries  lived  in  grand  style,  had  as  large  a  house 


254  SELF-GIVING. 

as  any  of  the  government  officials  or  English  merchants, 
and  that  it  was  all  nonsense  to  claim  that  they  had 
made  great  personal  sacrifices  in  order  to  go  to  India 
and  help  christianize  the  natives. 

"We  must  guard  against  this,  Cleora,"  remarked 
Llewellyn  seriously  and  thoughtfully. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply;  "we  must  not  forget  that 
we  are  dealing  also  with  the  home  world  left  behind, 
and  a  world  as  it  is,  not  as  we  could  wish  it  to  be." 

"  If  travellers  would  only  come  inside  and  see  for 
themselves !  but  they  will  not,  if  even  you  with  all 
your  winning  waj^s,  Cleora,  stand  at  the  gate  entreat- 
ing." 

"  And  yet,"  she  added  with  sarcastic  expression, 
"  they  are  all  sure  to  investigate  the  monkey  temple 
in  Benares,  and  the  alligator  pond  near  Kurrachee, 
and  to  know  all  about  the  obscene  worship  of  Kali- 
Ghat  ! " 

"  Yes,"  continued  Llewellyn  ;  "  travelling  makes 
many  people  act  very  strangely.  I  hear  that  a  com- 
pany of  two  New  York  clergymen  and  three  promi- 
nent Boston  laymen  were  lounging  around  the  Taj 
and  the  fort  all  day  yesterday  ;  and  their  guide  tells 
me  they  did  not  make  any  inquiries  about  mission- 
aries and  mission  work,  much  less  ask  to  be  conducted 
to  any  of  our  premises." 

The  decision  was  to  have  three  small  buildings  ;  the 
chapel  the  largest,  the  dwelling,  and  then  the  school. 

The  chapel  question  was  not  simply,  How  many  will 
be  likely  to  need  accommodation  ?  It  was  to  be  an 
honest,  earnest  invitation  to  the  masses,  and  also  an 


RETRENCHMENT  ORDERED.  255 

assurance  to  foreign  travellers  that  the  missionaries' 
object  was  truly  Christ-like. 

The  school  building  was  to  be  a  very  small  and 
humble  affair.  As  soon  as  the  Government  Commis- 
sioner of  Schools  learned  that  it  was  not  designed  to 
accommodate  more  than  a  score  of  pupils,  he  called  to 
enter  his  protest. 

"  Are  you  so  straitened  in  your  mission  funds, 
Mr.  Litchfield,  that  you  cannot  erect  a  larger  school 
building?" 

"  We  have  thought,  Captain  Selbe}r,  that  it  would 
be  adapted  to  our  purpose." 

"  O,  no ;  you  should  arrange  to  accommodate  a 
hundred  scholars.  We  will  make  an  appropriation  of 
a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  to  help  you.  Then  there 
will  be  the  regular  annual  'grants-in-aid;  '  I  dare  say 
quite  as  much  as  your  Missionary  Society  will  appro- 
priate." 

"No,  Captain  Selbey.  We  have  thought  of  this 
matter  very  carefully.  Important  as  is  a  government 
system  of  general  education,  absolutely  necessary  as 
it  is  to  British  rule  in  India  that  }rou  cover  the  land 
with  a  vast  network  of  common  schools,  we  have  not 
come  to  take  part  in  it.  I  will  not  question  the  mo- 
tives of  government,  although  it  is  evidently  a  very 
economical  plan  to  propose  to  Mission  Societies  that 
they  go  to  the  expense  of  sending  hither  hundreds  of 
thoroughly  educated  missionaries,  supporting  them, 
and  then  paying  half  or  two  thirds  of  the  cost  of  build- 
ing your  schoolhouses,  and  of  their  running  ex- 
penses." 


256  SELF-GIVING. 

"But,  Mr.  Litchfield,  we  puss  the  money  over 
entirety  into  your  hands.  It  shows  the  natives  our 
confidence  in  you,  and  increases  vastly  your  opportu- 
nities for  usefulness." 

"  This  does  not  appear  to  me  so  plain,  Captain 
Selbe}\  You  bring  us  under  very  strict  regulations 
and  supervision.  You  insist  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  our  time  shall  be  given  to  teaching  English. 
and  various  scientific  branches,  which  have  no  imme- 
diate and  vital  connection  with  our  special  evangeliz- 
ing mission.  Besides,  Americans  at  least  have  learned 
that  the  best  government  patronage  of  religious  enter- 
prise is  to  let  entirely  alone." 

"Will  you,  then,  refuse  any  government  *  grants-in- 
aid'  for  building  or  running  school  expenses  ?" 

"  No.  But  we  cannot  compromise  at  all  the  mission- 
ary character  of  our  work  in  India.  We  believe  in 
Christian  schools,  as  supplementary  to  the  great  com- 
mon-school system  of  government  support  and  super- 
vision. These  we  shall  endeavor  to  foster,  hoping 
to  create  among  the  natives  themselves  a  demand 
for  the  supply.  The  school  upon  our  compound 
is  to  be  a  visible  expression  of  our  idea,  not  an  enter- 
prise beyond  the  possible  realization  of  every  con- 
siderable Christian  community  in  all  this  great  land. 
If  in  such  work  you  are  disposed  to  aid  us,  we  shall 
be  thankful.  But  it  must  be  our  work,  for  which  our 
services  are  already  entirely  engaged." 

The  chapel  was  the  first  building  completed.  Im- 
patient to  leave  the  dak  bungalow  and  save  its 
expense,  they  had  a  temporary  partition  made  in  one 


RETRENCHMENT  ORDERED.  257 

end    of   the    chapel,  where   they   commenced  house- 
keeping again.     A  curtain  gave  them  two  rooms. 

A  native  preacher  was  secured  from  Bombay,  and 
very  encouraging  public  services  were  commenced. 
Beginning  to  dispense  largely  with  the  help  of  their 
interpreter,  they  hired  him  to  open  a  little  school  in 
the  public  part  of  the  chapel. 

Meanwhile,  work  continued  upon  the  dwelling  and 
school  building,  until  they  were  enclosed  and  roofed. 

Ah  !  little  did  they  think  that  a  very  dark  day  of 
their  missionary  life  had  come  !  It  was  a  letter  from 
the  Rooms.  Some  word  of  encouragement  amid  their 
labors  and  sacrifices  so  abundant  ?  Some  unexpected 
appropriation  to  enable  them  to  indulge  in  a  little 
more  domestic  comfort,  or  to  afford  a  Bible  woman  or 
extra  native  preacher  ? 

No.  It  was  an  order  to  retrench  immediately  one 
third  in  all  directions,  together  with  a  notification 
that  the  Committee  had  decided  not  to  make  good  to 
the  missionaries  in  India  the  depreciation  of  the  silver 
rupee. 

Cleora  cried,  and  Llewellyn  had  tears  he  could  not 
shed.  Here  they  were  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
with  their  guns  at  close  range  aimed  at  the  enemy, 
and  their  supporters  were  holding  back  the  ammuni- 
tion !  Here  they  were  manning  the  life-boat  to  rescue 
perishing  Hindu  souls,  and  Christian  multitudes 
crowding  the  safe  shore  behind,  refusing  to  give  them 
oars !  Here  they  were  down,  down,  down  in  Carey's 
dark,  damp,  dismal  India-mine,  and  none  to  hold  the 
ropes ! 


258  SELF-GIVING. 

The  groaning,  tearful  silence  which  followed  that 
retrenchment  letter,  was  broken  by  a  kiss  from  Cleora's 
lips  upon  Llewellyn's  wrinkled  brow. 

"  God  knows  all  about  it,  my  love,"  she  said. 

"  I  suppose  he  does." 

"  No  supposing  at  all,  dear.  Do  you  suppose  I  love 
you  ?  "  and  her  arms  were  quickly  around  his  neck, 
and  her  head  upon  his  shoulder. 

"  Angel  of  heaven,"  responded  Llewellyn  with  long 
embrace,  "  I  do  not  deserve  such  a  helper." 

"Ah,  dear!  we  appreciate  each  other,  but  we  must 
not  depreciate  the  watch-care,  and  wisdom,  and  love,  of 
the  all-leading  One.  You  know  how  the  song  goes, 
Llewellyn.  I  cannot  sing  it  now,  for  the  tears  keep 
coming  so  fast ;  but  you  remember  "  — 

Sometimes,  mid  scenes  of  deepest  gloom. 
Sometimes  where  Eden's  bowers  bloom, 
By  waters  still,  o'er  troubled  sea, 
Still  'tis  his  hand  that  leadeth  me  ! 

Lord,  I  would  clasp  thy  hand  in  mine, 
Nor  ever  murmur  nor  repine, 
Content,  whatever  lot  I  see, 
Since  'tis  my  God  that  leadeth  me. 

They  agreed  that  it  was  not  to  be  thought  of  for  a 
moment,  to  ask  help  of  her  father.  He  would  certainly 
refuse,  and  only  be  glad  that  a  sore  extremity  had 
come  to  them,  that  might  send  them  home  the  sooner. 

To  sell  off  that  extra  acre  of  land  was  tried  in  vain. 

Over  the  depreciated  rupee  question  they  did  not 
allow  themselves  much  trouble.     In  the  same  mail  a 


RETRENCHMENT  ORDERED.  259 

paper  came  from  the  missionaries  of  their  Society  in 
Bombay,  protesting  in  severe  and  indignant  language 
against  the  action  of  the  Committee,  but  Llewellyn 
and  Cleora  refused  to  sign  it,  feeling  that  there  was  a 
better  way  to  secure  enough  to  tide  them  over  the 
silver  crisis.  They  believed  it  preferable  to  refrain 
from  censure  and  insinuation,  and  simply  to  send  full 
information,  and  to  remain  upon  the  heart  of  the 
executive  officers  and  of  the  churches. 

For  similar  reasons  they  agreed  it  was  not  wise  to 
solicit  help  in  their  emergency  from  leading  home 
churches  and  laymen.  It  was  taking  unfair  advantage 
of  the  mission  treasury  in  its  evident  embarrassment. 
The  benefit  their  own  station  would  receive  might  be 
doing  a  great  wrong  to  the  general  cause.  They  had 
been  working  hard  and  successfully,  but  now  had 
come  a  time  for  patiently  waiting  on  the  Lord. 

To  the  providential  necessities  of  the  situation  they 
received  grace  enough  to  promptly  and  uncomplain- 
ingly yield.  All  work  upon  the  dwelling  and  school- 
house  was  stopped  immediately,  except  the  boarding 
up  of  windows  and  doors  to  preserve  the  buildings. 
The  native  preacher  and  the  teacher  were  both  dis- 
missed, Llewellyn  determining,  though,  with  his  imper- 
fect knowledge  of  the  language,  to  do  the  preaching 
himself,  and  Cleora  deciding  to  add  to  her  cares  the 
keeping  of  the  little  school.  The  cabinet  organ  they 
had  lately  ordered  to  save  her  voice  in  teaching  the 
natives  to  sing,  was  countermanded.  And  to  pay  off 
the  workmen  and  contractors,  Cleora's  beautiful 
watch,  the  last  keepsake  of  home,  was  sold. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

A   LITTLE  HINDERING  HELPER. 

IT  was  a  baby  girl  ;    eight  pounds,  three  and  a  half 
ounces. 

"  Just  like  her  mother  !  "  or,  "  The  very  picture  of 
her  father ! "  they  all  said.  Probably  the  former 
judgment  was  the  nearest  right,  as  the  little  stranger's 
hair  was  of  golden  hue. 

The  subject  of  naming  the  child  had  been  discussed 
by  the  parents  for  many  hours,  and  it  was  decided 
that  it  should  be  either  Llewellyn  or  Cleora  ;  and  so 
it  was  Cleora. 

The  father's  awkwardness  in  handling  the  infant, 
and  his  unmistakable  bashfulness  in  her  presence  were 
suitably  rebuked  by  the  elderly  and  maternal  mission- 
aries of  the  other  Societies. 

It  was  very  amusing  to  observe  how  much  absence 
of  mind  he  manifested  for  several  days.  Once  he 
started  for  the  bazaar  without  his  hat.  Twice  he  was 
found  studying  his  Bible  upside  down.  Shocking  to 
relate,  although  a  missionary,  he  forgot  to  say  his 
prayers  one  morning,  until  reminded  of  his  neglect  by 
Cleora.  And  frequently  he  found  himself  strolling 
into  her  room,  for  what  he  could  not  possibly  tell. 

260 


A  LITTLE  HINDERING  HELPER.  261 

Of  course  there  was  much  interference,  not  only 
with  her  missionary  work,  but  with  his  also.  He  could 
not  be  engaged  in  phrenological  examinations,  and  at 
the  same  time  be  visiting  the  out-stations  of  his  dis- 
trict. It  was  out  of  the  question  that  he  should  be 
enforcing  the  truth  upon  calling  friends  that  it  was 
the  most  remarkable  baby  that  had  ever  been  born, 
and  at  the  same  time  be  discussing  in  the  bazaar  the 
relative  merits  of  Christianity  and   Hinduism. 

There  was  a  deal  of  unavoidable  extra  expense, 
although  no  third  plate  was  immediately  set  upon  the 
table.  The  second  day  in  his  absent-mindedness,  Llew- 
ellyn hastened  to  purchase  a  tiny  knife  and  fork,  but 
it  was  of  no  service.  He  protested  that  he  meant 
them  only  for  playthings,  but  Cleora  told  him  that  was 
equally  silly. 

An  ayah,  or  child's  nurse,  was  secured,  but  then  this 
one  required  an  assistant  to  do  the  more  menial 
nursery-work.  And  there  were  other  extras,  which 
compelled  Llewellyn  to  borrow  a  hundred  rupees  for 
six  months,  at  three  per  cent  per  month  interest.  This 
was  an  exorbitant  charge  for  the  accommodation,  but 
the  hardest  part  of  it  was  that  a  brother-missionary 
consented  to  receive  it  from  him.  The  excuse  was, 
that  thirty-six  per  cent  was  the  ruling  rate  of  interest 
among  the  natives,  which  was  true,  though  there  was 
nothing  like  the  usual  native  risk  in  lending  so  small 
an  amount  for  so  short  a  time  to  a  brother-missionary. 

"A  cutcha  transaction  for  a  pucka  baby!"  ex- 
claimed Llewellyn  to  himself,  in  the  new  Anglo-Indian 
dialect,  as  lie  turned  away  with  the  money  in  hand. 


262  SELF-GIVING. 

Cleora's  school  had  to  be  dismissed  for  a  long  three 
months'  vacation,  and  her  husband  was  compelled  to 
abandon  some  of  his  prospected  mission  tours  among 
the  surrounding  villages. 

"  What  has  all  that  pounding  meant  to-day  ? " 
inquired  Cleora  ;  "  I  thought  all  the  carpenter-work 
had  been  stopped." 

"  Wait  another  hour,"  replied  Llewellyn,  "  and  I 
will  show  you  when  I  come  in  again." 

"  Why,  my  dear  husband,  what  is  it  ?  It  looks  like 
a  coffin." 

"  No  ;    it  is  a  cradle  ;    see  the  rockers  !  " 

M  O,  yes!    Where  did  you  get  them?" 

"  Off  of  my  study  rocking-chair." 

"  But  it  is  twice  too  long." 

"Nonsense.     It  is  only  five  feet." 

"  And  where  did  you  find  that  cover  for  your  box? 
It  is  exactly  like  your  study  gown." 

"  I  do  not  care  about  it  any  more." 

"You  foolish  boy  !  Now  tack  on  your  slippers  for 
handles,  and  you  will  have  it  all  right." 

It  was  a  very  delicate  child.  The  mother  had  had 
to  work  too  hard,  and  of  late  under  too  great  a  burden 
of  disappointment  and  anxiety.  Half  of  the  time,  the 
first  year  of  the  little  life,  the  baby  was  ill,  and  when 
she  became  old  enough  to  notice  objects  and  to  show 
preferences,  it  was  very  evident  that  no  one  could 
relieve  the  mother  so  much  of  the  infant's  care  as  the 
father.  Then  Cleora  had  a  long  run  of  fever,  and 
many,  many  times  Llewellyn  found  it  necessary  to  sit 
up  with  her  all  night. 


A  LITTLE  HINDERING  HELPER.  263 

When  to  this  subsequent  and  tedious  sickness  the 
English  practising  physician  of  Agra  was  called, 
Cleora  had  a  few  plain  words  with  him. 

"  I  think  I  understand,  Doctor  Hazard,  the  situation 
as  between  missionaries  and  the  medical  profession  in 
these  heathen  lands.  We  are  the  poorest  part  of  your 
practice ;  generally  so  poor  as  to  be  worthless.  You 
know  that  usually  we  are  not  able  to  pay  a  quarter  of 
what  you  charge  others,  and,  as  a  rule,  you  would 
prefer  to  have  us  go  home.  So  whenever  you  have 
an  opportunity  to  prescribe  a  return  to  England  or  to 
America,  you  are  sure  to  improve  it.  Now  in  this 
sickness  I  want  no  such  direction  from  you  unless  it 
is  absolutely  necessary.  In  this,  please  treat  me  as  if 
I  were  the  wife  of  an  English  official  or  merchant,  and 
able  to  give  the  regular  gold  mohur  for  every  call." 

However,  it  would  be  a  very  hasty  and  one-sided 
assumption  to  conclude  that  the  little  stranger  had  been 
so  great  a  hindrance  as  to  prove  a  real  calamity  to  the 
Agra  mission.  God  who  had  dropped  the  angel- 
infant  from  heaven  into  those  two  toiling,  weary, 
lonely  hearts,  had  not  overlooked  the  evangelizing 
interests  of  that  important  station.  It  had  been  a 
vine  of  his  own  planting,  and  the  babj'-advent  was 
only  the  extending  of  the  roots  out  a  little  farther  in 
the  unseen  ground. 

The  neighboring  Roman  Catholic  missionaries 
noticed  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  natives 
daily  congregating  upon  the  Protestant  compound. 
They  doubled  their  efforts  at  family-visitation,  and 
offered  still  larger  inducements  in  the  way  of  bribes 


264  SELF-GIVING. 

and  indulgences,  but  the  new  baby  proved  the  more 
powerful  attraction. 

One  day  Mr.  Litchfield's  teacher  overheard  in  the 

bazaar  this  bit  of  conversation  among  several  Hindu 

men:  » 

"  Wonderful  —  such  a  commotion  over  a  baby-girl !  " 

"  Yes ;  those  Americans  make  quite  as  much  ado  as 

we  would  over  a  boy." 

"A  very  absurd  and  ridiculous  custom  !  " 
"  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that.     It  may  be  right." 
"  It  must  be  that  such  women  as  Mrs.  Litchfield 
have  souls.     She  has  as  much  knowledge,  and  more 
goodness,  than  any  of  us." 

"  She  can  read,  and  write,  and  talks  common  sense, 
and  will  doubtless  bring  up  to  be  like  herself,  this 
little  thing  of  a  girl,  which  we  would  as  like  as  not 
throw  to  the  crocodiles  in  the  Ganges,  if  the  English 
soldiers  were  not  in  the  way." 

"  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  American  is  proud  of  his 
wife,  and  of  the  little  thing  that  may  be  like  her.  I 
wonder  if  it  is  Christianity  that  makes  all  the  differ- 
ence  : 

"  There  is  not  so  much  to  interest  me  in  their  invisi- 
ble God  and  unseen  heaven,  but  there  is  argument  in 
a  Christian  mother,  who  has  had  all  the  advantages  of 
a  Christian  ancestry  and  a  Christian  training." 
"And  in  making  something  of  a  baby-girl." 
"Yes.  It  just  knocks  our  Hinduism,  no  mistake. 
Of  course  their  Bible  is  not  equal  to  our  Rig-Veda, 
and  they  have  no  literature  to  compare  with  our 
Ramayana    and    Maha-bhauata ;   but    look    at   their 


A  LITTLE  HINDERING  HELPER.  265 

women,  their  mothers,  their  girls,  and  then  look  at 
ours  !  " 

"  No  comparison  !  " 
44  Queens  and  slaves  !  " 
"  Gods  and  worms  !  " 

Cleora  was  largely  reconciled  to  lying  there  help- 
lessly so  many  weeks,  by  the  evident  impressions  for 
good  being  made  upon  scores  of  native  women,  mostly 
Hindus,   though   a  few   Moslems  also   called   to   see 
the  foreign  baby  and  its  mother.     It  was  quite  touch- 
ing to  hear  many  of  their  exclamations  of  wonderment. 
"  Think  of  it.     They  are  happy  over  A  girl  !  " 
"Perhaps  we  do  have  souls  as  well  as  men  ! " 
"  I  wish  I  had  not  thrown  my  baby  into  —  oh !  " 
44  The  Christian's  God  must  have  a  heart !  " 
44  My  girl-baby  shall  have  no  more  poison  !  " 
44  And  they  shall  not  have  mine  to  bring  up  for  a 
prostitute,  if  I  can  redeem  her  with  the  work  of  my 
hands  ! " 

44  See  !  Her  papa  is  kissing  her  !  My  baboo  would 
no  more  kiss  a  baby-girl  than  he  would  kiss  a 
snake!" 

44  Why  !  the  mother  is  smiling  !  All  sunshine  on 
her  face !     Perhaps  it  comes  from  her  religion." 

44  The  missionary  says :  Their  Jesus  took  little 
girls  as  well  as  little  boys  up  into  his  arms  and  blessed 
them.     Perhaps  He  makes  the  difference." 

44  Look  at  him,  placing  the  pillow  for  his  wife,  and 
giving  her  the  medicine  with  his  own  hands.  We 
never  dreamed  of  the  like  before  ;  there  must  be  purer 
love  than  ours,  and  from  whence  can  it  come?  " 


206  SELF-GIVING. 

"My  wrists  and  ankles  are  loaded  with  gold  and 
silver  rings,  and  I  would  give  them  all  to  know  really 
if  I  have  a  soul,  and  whether  there  is  love  for  me,  if 
not  in  this  world,  in  another !  " 

Sometimes  while  Llewellyn  sat  with  his  daily  Bible- 
class,  it  became  necessary,  in  order  to  pacify  the  poor 
little  girl,  to  take  her  to  him.  It  was  a  strange  sight, 
that  spoke  volumes  to  the  Hindu  men. 

Nor  was  it  all  the  excitement  of  mere  novelty.  Deep 
impressions  were  made  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
many  heathen  men  and  women.  Mahometans  as  well 
as  Hindus  felt  the  attractive  power  of  the  womanhood 
and  the  manhood  and  the  childhood  of  that  Christian 
home.  Many  of  the  former  acknowledged  frankly  —  at 
least  to  their  own  thoughts — The  Koran  breathes  no 
such  benediction  upon  human  life.  And  a  still  larger 
number  of  the  latter  felt  that  the  true  light  came  not 
from  the  Avatars  of  Vishnu,  nor  the  Lin  gam  of  Siva. 

The  light  of  a  Christian  home  had  been  fully 
kindled  in  that  great,  dense,  heathen  darkness. 
Cleora's  father  relented  to  the  extent  of  allowing  his 
wife  to  send  a  five  hundred  dollar  present  for  the 
baby,  which  enabled  them  to  complete  the  dwelling. 
Besides,  the  executive  officers  of  their  Mission  Society 
had  been  specially  roused  by  their  unimbittered 
spirit  of  resignation  and  heroism,  and  by  their  own 
sacrifices  made  up  the  deficiency,  telegraphing  to 
Agra  —  "  All  estimates  restored."  And  when  at  the 
end  of  the  year  Llewellyn  and  Cleora  thanked  God 
for  his  blessing  upon  their  mission,  they  specially 
thanked  him  for  the  little  hindering  helper. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

TRANSLATION  AND   OUT-STATIONS. 

AFTER  the  young  missionaries  had  begun  to 
feel  at  home  in  the  Hindi  language,  they 
resolved  on  doing  something  toward  supplying  the 
pressing  need  of  a  native  Christian  literature.  Probr 
ably  they  had  never  experienced  a  greater  surprise  in 
their  lives,  than  in  discovering  what  an  extensive 
heathen  literature  exists  in  India,  as  also  how  enter' 
prising  have  been  the  foes  of  evangelical  Christianity, 
heart  and  hand  with  Hindu,  Moslem  and  Buddhist 
leaders,  in  translating  infidel  books  and  periodicals 
and  in  circulating  them  among  the  then  two  hundred 
and  forty  million  of  the  great  empire. 

The  entire  Bible  had  already  been  translated  by 
other  missionaries,  so  Llewellyn  commenced  work 
upon  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  Cleora  upon 
a  much  needed  elementary  catechism.  As  they  pur- 
sued these  tasks,  they  encountered  unexpected  diffi- 
culty. It  was  found  that  a  book-knowledge  and  for- 
mal acquaintance  with  the  language  was  one  thing, 
and  quite  another  to  be  able  to  select  words  that 
should  clearly  express  the  new  religious  ideas  and 
prove  at  home  among  native  thought.     In  conversa- 

267 


268  SELF-GIVING. 

tion  and  in  public  address  their  features  and  manners 
were  a  help,  which  could  not  accompany  the  printed 
page.  Many  a  paragraph  in  manuscript  had  to  be 
revised  and  rewritten  after  it  had  been  submitted  to 
natives,  and  they  had  been  asked  to  tell  what  it 
meant  to  them. 

One  room  of  their  dwelling  was  turned  into  a  print- 
ing-office. Type  and  a  hand-press,  as  also  a  compositor, 
were  secured  from  Calcutta,  and  fortunately  one  of 
their  own  servants  found  nothing  in  his  caste-rules 
inconsistent  with  his  acting  as  press-man.  Forms  had 
to  be  sent  to  the  capital  for  stereotyping,  and  there 
also,  at  first,  it  was  necessary  to  arrange  for  all  their 
better  binding. 

Very  carefully  was  computed  the  cost  beyond  their 
own  personal  labor  of  every  book,  and  even  of  every 
tract  that  was  issued  from  their  humble  beginning  of 
a  publishing  establishment.  They  saw  abundant  evi- 
dence that  the  time  had  come  when  the  natives 
would  purchase  all  that  they  could  supply  of  Chris- 
tian literature,  and,  having  purchased,  would  esteem 
the  more  highly,  and  allow  to  accomplish  among  them 
the  more  good. 

A  little  store  was  opened  in  the  bazaar  for  the  sale 
of  Bibles,  books  and  tracts,  and  placed  in  charge  of 
one  of  their  most  trusted  young  men  converts.  The 
success  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  publishing  enterprise 
was  so  apparent  that  a  leading  Kindu  capitalist  of 
Agra  offered  to  invest  a  thousand  pounds  in  erecting 
a  suitable  building  upon  a  leased  corner  of  the  mission- 
ground,  supplying  it  with  more  type,  and  in  perfect- 


THAN  SLA  TION  AND  0  UTS  TA  TI0N8.  269 

ing  arrangements  for  stereotyping  and  binding.  He 
was  willing  that  the  establishment  should  be  entirely 
under  Mission  direction,  print  only  the  material  which 
the  missionaries  furnished,  and  derive  its  profits  from 
the  expense  saved  through  the  larger  facilities  and 
the  stopping  of  the  express  charges  to  and  from  Cal- 
cutta. Though  with  some  hesitancy,  Mr.  Litchfield 
accepted  the  proposition,  and  the  future  proved  that 
the  arrangement  was  wise  and  providential. 

When  thus  it  became  possible,  Cleora  felt  that  she 
must  commence  a  child's  paper  in  Hindi.  There 
were  many  thousand  boys,  at  least,  in  Agra  and 
vicinity  who  could  read,  but  for  whom  there  was  only 
heathen  literature,  ponderous  as  the  Ramayana  and 
Maha-bharata,  or  frivolous  and  sensuous  as  the 
Puranas  and  Tontras.  This  also  was  a  success,  and 
soon  a  thousand  copies  monthly  were  sold  at  a  price 
to  cover  all  expense.  The  Tract  Society  in  London, 
and  other  publishing  houses  in  England  and  America 
gladly  loaned  her  many  illustrative  plates,  which 
added  largely  to  the  popularity  of  her  paper,  named 
«  The  Helping  Hand." 

Too  soon  Llewellyn  was  tempted  to  undertake  a 
commentary  upon  the  Gospel  according  to  Luke,  in 
the  Urdu  language,  the  widely  spoken  "language  of 
the  camp,"  generally  known  as  Hindustani,  and  pre- 
vailing among  the  Mahometan  populations  of  India. 
He  had  been  a  diligent  student  of  Urdu  as  well  as  of 
Hindi ;  but  not  being  called  upon  to  use  it  as  much  in 
conversation  with  the  people,  he  had  far  from  mas- 
tered  it ;    and   when   he    had   finished   his   task,   he 


2T0  SELF-GIVING. 

learned  what  many  other  missionaries,  or  at  least 
their  successors  have  learned,  that  the  results  were 
comparatively  worthless. 

The  theological  class  was  a  very  encouraging 
department  of  his  work.  There  were  two,  subse- 
quently increased  to  six  young  men,  giving  bright 
evidences  of  conversion  and  call  to  the  ministry,  and 
laboring  faithfully  under  his  instruction  to  become 
qualified  to  preach  the  Gospel.  The  missionary  did 
not  feel  that  it  was  wise  to  support  them  entirely 
with  mission  funds,  but  furnished  them  with  various 
regular  tasks,  especially  in  the  publishing  house  and 
in  colportage  work,  whereby  they  were  enabled 
largely  to  provide  their  own  food  and  clothing.  For 
their  accommodation  a  little  dormitory  extension  was 
built  to  the  schoolhouse,  where  also  their  services 
enabled  the  station  to  dispense  with  the  hired  teacher. 

Ah,  indeed,  how  the  work  was  accumulating  upon 
these  two  earnest,  conscientious  missionaries  !  Almost 
every  month  seemed  to  bring  another  mountain  upon 
their  shoulders.  At  times  they  felt  as  if  God  was 
requiring  them  to  carry  the  Himalayas.  Why,  WHY 
were  reinforcements  so  long  delayed!  Why,  at  least, 
did  not  Providence  remove  the  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  the  coming  of  Margaret  Kilburne  to  their  assist- 
ance !  They  had  been  only  two  years  upon  the  field, 
and  yet  they  both  looked  ten  years  older  than  when 
they  landed  at  Calcutta. 

The  weekly  union  prayer-meeting,  which  the  Agra 
missionaries  of  the  various  Societies  sustained,  was  a 
help,  yet  it  added  to  the  load.     It  took  valuable  time, 


TRANSLATION  AND  OUT-STATIONS.  271 

which  is  a  consideration  with  very  busy,  conscientious 
people,  however  those  who  are  forever  scolding  the 
absentees  from  their  unprepared  and  tiresome  "  taking- 
part,"  may  regard  it.  At  times  Llewellyn  and  Cleora 
felt  fed,  but  generally  they  had  to  feed  the  others. 
The  other  missionary  women  were  very  reluctant  to 
say  anything,  that  is,  until  the  meeting  was  over  :  and 
one  of  the  English  brethren  was  always  harping  upon 
his  "sanctification"  that  time  when  a  woman  put  her 
hand  on  his  head ;  a  recital  that  never  edified  any  but 
himself. 

If  the  calls  had  not  been  so  frequent  and  persistent 
for  native  family  visitation  throughout  the  city,  and 
for  village  touring  in  the  districts  around  Agra,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Litchfield  might  have  yielded  almost  entirely, 
as  have  many,  to  the  temptation  of  limiting  their 
labors  to  the  comparatively  comfortable  sphere  of  their 
own  compound.  Indeed,  there  was  enough  there  for 
them  to  do,  even  with  double  their  capacity  for  work. 
But  they  could  not  so  read  the  great  commission  — 
"  Go  ye." 

"  I  cannot  preach,  and  I  cannot  teach  and  write  as 
I  should,  unless  I  visit  among  the  people,"  was 
Llewellyn's  frequent  remark,  as  he  drove  himself  away 
out  of  sight  of  his  chapel  and  theological  class  and 
book-making  table. 

"  Audi  must  know  these  children  and  their  mothers 
in  their  own  homes,  or  I  shall  not  understand  them 
and  how  to  deal  with  them,"  was  Cleora's  wise 
response  ;  yet  a  determination  more  difficult  to  be 
realized. 


272  SELF-GIVING. 

During  the  travelling  season  of  the  year  Mr.  Litch- 
field accomplished  several  village-tours,  ranging  from 
one  to  three  weeks  in  length.  He  was  accustomed  to 
do  most  of  his  journeying  on  horseback,  carrying  his 
small  tent,  bed  and  accoutrements  in  a  bandy,  which 
was  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  trotting  oxen,  and  driven  by 
his  Christian  servant,  who  had  learned  the  follies  of 
caste  and  had  become  really  useful  at  all  kinds  of  camp 
work. 

Llewellyn  could  find  no  dak  bungalow  accommoda- 
tions except  in  the  larger  towns  and  along  the  main 
roads.  And  as  all  the  houses  in  the  native  villages 
are  mere  straw-thatched  mud  hovels,  often  besmeared 
within  and  without  with  sacred  cow-dung,  and  gener- 
ally inhabited  in  large  numbers  by  the  pestiferous 
insects  which  the  Hindus  consider  a  sin  to  kill,  there 
could  be  no  question  of  the  wisdom  of  the  expense  and 
trouble  necessary  in  order  to  be  provided  always  with 
a  tent. 

Three  times  a  day  he  would  preach  in  as  many  suc- 
cessive villages,  generally  in  the  presence  of  a  large, 
orderly  and  respectful  congregation.  Then  he  would 
spend  an  hour  conversing  with  those  who  lingered,  and 
these  "inquiry  meetings,"  as  he  called  them,  were 
often  the  most  exacting  upon  his  strength,  as  well  as 
most  richly  blessed  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
the  natives. 

It  was  not  enough  for  him  to  be  able  to  tell  over  and 
over  again  the  "  old,  old  story  of  Jesus  and  his  love." 
All  his  resources  of  information,  and  tact,  and  logic, 
and  illustration  were  in  constant  requisition. 


TRANSLATION  AND  OUT-STATIONS.  273 

One  day  a  Brahman  threw  into  his  face  — 

"  You  Christians  do  not  agree  among  yourselves. 
You  should  first  harmonize  your  own  beliefs,  before 
you  ask  us  to  believe  as  you  do." 

"  You  are  all  Hindus,  I  see  by  your  caste  marks," 
replied  Llewellyn. 

"  Yes,  yes." 

"  And  how  many  Hindus  are  there  in  your  country  ?" 

"  More  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  millions." 

"  Do  all  believe  in  Brahma,  Vishnu  and  Siva,  and  in 
the  authority  of  the  Puranas  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed." 

"  Yet  I  know  that  some  of  you  believe  that  the  soul 
of  man  and  God  are  the  same  ;  others  that  they  are 
not  the  same  at  all ;  and  still  others  that  there  is  a 
resemblance.  And  I  know  that  these  three  sects 
among  you  are  subdivided  ninety-six  times.  I  do  not 
think  that  you  should  say  anything  about  denomina- 
tions among  Christian  people." 

At  the  close  of  a  discourse  upon  idol-worship,  a  very 
intelligent  Sudra  remarked : 

"How  do  you  know?  Your  religion  is  not  as  old 
as  ours." 

"  But  your  religion  was  very  different  in  its  earlier 
history.  Your  Puranas  and  Tontras,  indeed,  teach 
idol-worship,  and  you  will  find  germs  of  your  system 
of  idolatry  in  your  two  great  national  epics,  the 
Ramayana  and  the  Maha-bharata,  and  even  as  far  back 
as  your  Institutes  of  Menu ;  but  not  in  your  Vedas. 
I  challenge  any  Brahman  to  show  me  in  the  Rig  Veda 
anything   like    idolatry,  except   the  inculcation  of  a 


274  SELF-GIVING. 

general  worship  of  the  powers  of  nature.  Your  ancient 
religion  was  a  spiritual  pantheism,  close  to  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine  of  the  unity  and  omnipresence  of  God. 
But  your  modern  Hinduism,  which  is  popularized 
Brahmanism,  has  drifted  far  off  into  practical  poly- 
theism. Besides,  your  venerated  Vedic  religion  knew 
nothing  of  your  present  universal  belief  in  the  trans- 
migratian  of  souls." 

Occasionally  a  goodly  number  of  high-caste  people 
would  first  assemble  in  front  of  his  tent,  but  always 
retire  at  least  a  hundred  feet  upon  the  missionary's 
giving  any  special  attention  to  those  below  them  in 
the  social  scale.  Llewellyn  remembered  seeing  some- 
thing like  this  in  America. 

Two  or  three  times  on  his  village  touring  he  passed 
the  pompous  processions  of  the  high  priests  of  Vishnu 
and  Siva.  It  was  a  great  contrast,  the  humble  mis- 
sionary on  his  horse,  followed  by  an  ox-cart,  and  the 
proud,  high  Brahman,  with  his  train  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver-covered elephants,  accompanied  by  thousands  of 
retainers.  But  bright  angels  innumerable  rejoiced  in 
the  services  of  the  one,  while  they  veiled  their  faces 
in  sorrow  over  the  blasphemy  and  pestilence  of  the 
other. 

There  was  one  village,  Midnapatam,  thirty-six  miles 
southwest  from  Agra,  which  Llewellyn  specially  loved 
to  visit.  It  was  a  small  hamlet,  but  had  had  its  tem- 
ple, its  Brahman  priest,  and  its  two  dancing-girls. 
The  latter  were  the  sisters  of  the  priest,  and  together 
they  pursued  their  loathsome  calling  in  the  worship 
of  the  Lingam  of  Siva.     But  the  love  of  Jesus  puri- 


TRANSLATION  AND  OUT-STATIONS.  275 

fied  even  these  lives.  The  temple  became  a  Christian 
chapel.  The  sisters  and  the  brother  learned  to  serve 
the  Divine  Master,  even  better  than  they  had  served 
Satan.  And  whenever  afterward  Llewellyn  visited 
them,  he  felt  that  he  knew  somewhat  of  how  Jesus 
felt  when  he  visited  Bethany. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

HINDEEED   TO   BE  MOST  HELPFUL. 

THE  long  waiting  was  very  hard  for  Margaret 
Kilburne.  Sometimes  she  had  to  pray  very  ear- 
nestly and  strive  very  heroically  for  a  sufficiency  of 
the  grace  of  Christian  patience.  There  were  those  who 
told  her  she  should  not  strive  at  all,  but  in  a  very 
placid,  lullaby  fashion  go  to  sleep  upon  the  promises 
of  God,  and  wake  up  with  all  the  needed  resignation 
and  fortitude,  as  well  as  every  other  element  of  per- 
fect character.  But  Margaret  was  better  informed, 
and  indeed  was  not  constituted  for  any  such  self-de- 
ception. At  the  beginning  she  had  had  to  "strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  and  all  her  subse- 
quent experience  had  been  like  Paul's,  '  a  running  a 
race,'  a  4  pressing  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.' 

Even  though  resigned  to  the  disappointment,  it 
was  still  a  disappointment  over  which  she  shed  many 
tears.  The  spirit  became  perfectly  willing  to  obey 
God,  though  the  flesh  was  weak.  She  came  and  laid 
her  sorrow  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  but  it  was  by  herself 
also  remaining  there.  Often  she  besought  the  Lord 
that  the  thorn  might  depart  from  her,  but  his  only 

276 


HINDERED  TO  BE  MOST  HELPFUL.  277 

reply  was,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  :  for  my 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness.'' 

The  chief  difficulty  was  that  the  mission-interest 
in  "  woman's  work  for  woman  "  had  not  yet  practi- 
cally matured.  A  few  in  the  different  branches 
of  the  Church  were  quite  zealous,  and  at  several  sta- 
tions in  the  heathen  world  single  women -missionaries 
were  laboring  very  efficiently.  But  the  majority  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Societies  were  looking  upon  the 
movement  with  very  conservative  eyes,  and  the  future 
will  probably  demonstrate  that  they  were  not  alto- 
gether wrong.  All  the  funds  that  could  be  collected 
for  this  auxiliary  department  of  work  were  required 
to  support  those  already  sent,  and  it  continued  im- 
possible for  the  Woman's  Union  Society  in  New  York 
even  to  release  the  "  Cleora-Margaret  Fund  "from  pre- 
vious obligations,  though  it  was  so  eminently  desir- 
able that  Miss  Kilburne's  work  should  draw  from  it, 
in  the  Agra  station  to  which  she  had  been  assigned. 

Why  so  few  of  her  sisters  in  the  churches  felt  as 
she  felt  in  regard  to  the  obligation  of  Christian 
women  to  enter  upon  a  special  labor  of  love  for  their 
own  degraded  and  enslaved  sex  throughout  the 
heathen  world,  Margaret  often  pondered.  Probably 
the  time  was  not  ripe  for  the  movement ;  and  in  the 
wise  providence  of  God,  that  which  was  necessarily 
to  be  auxiliary,  was  permitted  a  painfully  slow  growth ; 
painful  to  Margaret  andCleora,  and  Llewellyn  and  Mrs. 
Doremus,  and  others,  that  the  general  cause  which 
was  to  be  aided,  might  become  better  deserving  of 
the  assistance;  the  helped  more  worthy  of  the  helper. 


27S  SELF-GIVING. 

Formally  accepted  as  a  missionary  of  the  Society, 
and  appointed  to  Agra,  and  yet  compelled  to  linger 
over  two  years  in  America  !  Ah  !  it  is  one  thing  for 
the  executive  officers  of  the  mission  societies  of  the 
churches  to  tlo  their  part  faithfully  and  well,  and 
another  for  their  constituency  to  make  effective  the 
formal  acts  of  their  representatives  at  the  Rooms,  to 
support  with  sympathy,  and  pra}*er,  and  money.  It 
proved  best  that  Margaret  should  wait,  but  it  was 
none  the  less  shameful  that  the  hands  of  her  Society 
should  be  tied  so  long  by  the  lack  of  mission  interest 
among  Christian  women,  after  a  laborer  so  well  qual- 
ified had  been  secured,  and  a  field  so  important  was 
calling  for  her  services. 

In  after  years  Margaret  considered  this  long  wait- 
ing-time the  golden  period  of  her  life.  Her  Chris- 
tian character  developed  and  matured  beautifully,  and 
much  valuable  fruit  was  gathered  from  her  work 
among  others.  She  continued  as  a  teacher  in  the 
same  school  with  increased  salary,  and  almost  every 
week  her  contributions  appeared  in  one  or, two  of  the 
Chicago  papers. 

By  diligent  correspondence,  much  visiting  and 
many  addresses  at  women's  meetings,  Miss  Kilburne 
was  enabled  to  establish  over  a  score  of  efficient  mis- 
sion circles  in  as  many  different  churches,  to  secure 
the  circulation  of  mission  periodicals  in  more  than 
three  hundred  families,  and  to  persuade  four  clergy- 
men to  the  appointment  and  support  of  missionary 
concerts  and  to  the  stated  preaching  of  mission  ser- 
mons. 


HINDERED  TO  BE  MOST  HELPFUL.  279 

Two  others,  pastors  of  leading  churches  in  the 
western  part  of  Chicago,  met  all  her  efforts  in  a  very- 
cold,  repelling  manner.  One  of  them  told  her  he  did 
not  believe  in  raising  money  for  foreign  missionaries; 
and  that  those  who  went  to  labor  in  heathen  lands, 
should  support  themselves  in  their  work  as  he  did. 
The  other  said  they  had  a  church  debt  to  raise,  and 
it  would  not  be  wise  to  divert  attention.  Moreover, 
he  intimated  that  she  was  making  herself  very  con- 
spicuous by  assuming  to  advise  ministers  and  churches 
as  to  their  duty.  In  her  trial  with  these  two  selfish 
clergymen,  Margaret  finally  arranged  with  two  other 
mission  women  to  join  her  in  praying  daily  for  them 
and  their  churches,  that  their  union  might  become 
enlisted  in  the  great  cause  of  world  evangelization, 
or  be  broken.  God  answered  their  prayers  by  unset- 
tling the  pastorates. 

One  of  the  most  trying  features  of  Miss  Kilburne's 
home  work  in  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  was  an 
inexcusable  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  Illinois  State 
secretary  of  one  of  the  societies,  in  wrhose  field  she 
had  accomplished  her  largest  results.  This  man  had 
long  held  the  situation,  and  though  his  years  of  effi- 
ciency had  passed,  he  felt  as  if  he  owned  the  position, 
and  that  it  would  be  base  ingratitude  and  injustice 
for  the  denomination  to  deprive  him  of  his  salary. 
The  only  special  energy  he  seemed  to  manifest  was 
in  securing  opportunities  for  supplying  pastorless 
churches,  and  thus  somewhat  questionably  increasing 
his  income.  In  his  quarterly  and  annual  reports,  the 
leading  anxiety  manifested  was  to  convince  the  Board 


280  SELF-GIVING. 

of  Control  that  no  human  agency  in  his  district  could 
accomplish  more  than  he  was  accomplishing.  Hence 
when  afire  with  a  larger  measure  of  the  Master's 
spirit,  Margaret  stirred  herself  to  the  accomplishment 
of  far  more  in  Chicago  and  vicinity  than  resulted 
from  the  well-paid  services  of  the  State  secretary, 
there  was  a  little  reign  of  terror  in  that  office  on  State 
street ;  several  more  than  the  usual  number  of  pulpit 
supplies  were  neglected  for  the  legitimate  work  of  can- 
vassing the  churches ;  and  though  the  official  reports 
were  very  hilarious  over  the  direct  results  of  Miss 
Kilburne's  work,  all  reference  to  her  was  carefully 
avoided.  Pains,  however,  were  taken  to  make  special 
mention  of  a  "  noble  woman  "  in  Cairo,  at  the  other 
extreme  end  of  the  State,  who  had  secured  a  score  of 
subscribers  for  the  Missionarg  Monthly,  and  had 
organized  two  mission-circles.  An  added  reason  for 
the  slight  and  partiality  was  probably  that  the  Cairo 
woman  was  reported  wealthy,  while  Margaret  was  only 
a  schoolteacher. 

And  yet  all  the  time  this  Illinois  secretary  professed 
to  be  Miss  Kilburne's  best  friend.  He  did  not  really 
mean  to  act  the  part  of  a  hypocrite,  but  his  self- 
interests  were  so  strong  as  to  quite  compel  him  to 
say  and  write  to  her  very  differently  from  the  general 
character  of  his  conversation  and  correspondence 
regarding  her  and  her  work. 

It  was  an  added  lesson  Margaret  needed  to  learn  ; 
that  the  more  thoroughly  one  becomes  acquainted 
with  any  great  and  good  cause  intrusted  to  human 
hands,  the  more    surely  will   be    found    shadows   as 


HINDERED  TO  BE  MOST  HELPFUL.  281 

well  as  sunshine  ;  bitter  dregs  as  well  as  sweetened 
draughts  ;  thorns  as  well  as  roses  on  the  vines.  It  was 
best  she  should  know  that  among  ministers  and  mis- 
sion-agents, and  even  among  missionaries  themselves, 
there  is  a  lamentable  amount  of  self-seeking  ;  of  mere 
professional  enterprise,  and  of  fraternal  regard  that 
is  no  better,  and  often  far  worse,  than  the  social  feel- 
ings of  the  world.  Christ  only  is  perfect.  Human 
efforts  under  him,  in  proportion  to  their  worthiness, 
are  certain  to  be  the  more  frequently  counterfeited. 
Margaret  had  learned  not  to  be  surprised  nor  dis- 
couraged by  such  revelations,  but  only  to  be  made  the 
more  careful  and  conscientious,  and  the  more  stead- 
fast in  her  "looking  unto  Jesus." 
Her  favorite  hymn  was : 


Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 

Nearer  to  thee  ; 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 

That  raiseth  me. 


"  Not  crosses,  my  sister,  but  faith,"  urged  one  of  a 
band  of  "Higher  Life  Christians,"  who  had  made  per- 
sistent and  obtrusive  efforts  to  win  her  over  to  their 
denomination.  "  You  may  be  as  near  Christ,  and  as 
like  him  this  instant  as  you  want  to  be,  if  you  will 
only  believe  that  it  is  so." 

Not  long  after,  this  same  excellent  and  comfortably 
situated  woman  invited  Margaret  to  a  tea  and  "  faith 
meeting  "  at  her  residence. 

"  We  have  all  been  sanctified  but  you,  Miss  Kil- 


282  SELE-GIYING. 

burne,"  whispered  the  hostess  to  Margaret  upon  her 
right. 

4*  Brother  Jilson,"  she  continued  aloud,  "  please  tell 
my  young  friend  how  it  was  that  you  stepped  into  the 
marvellous  light.5' 

He  told,  but  Margaret  did  not  care  to  hear ;  for  she 
recognized  him  as  having  plagiarized  in  a  sermon  from 
one  of  her  own  newspaper  contributions. 

"  I  was  one  of  those  fifty  sanctified  at  Ocean  Grove 
on  that  Sunday  of  wonderful  power,"  remarked  a 
young  lady  whose  cheeks  were  painted,  eyebrows 
pencilled,  fingers  loaded  with  rings,  and  waist  com- 
pressed to  half  its  natural  size. 

"  Did  you  ever  meet  a  Mrs.  Yonkin  there  ?  "  in- 
quired Margaret. 

"  O,  yes,"  replied  the  young  lady,  after  she  had 
made  two  or  three  corset-gasps  ;  "  what  a  queer  name  ! 
We  all  heard  of  her,  and  that  her  character  is  not  con- 
sidered very  good." 

"  Indeed  !  "  exclaimed  Margaret. 

"  It  is  said  that  she  takes  morphine,  and  has  not 
really  any  husband  ;  and  there  are  very  unpleasant 
stories  about  her  house  in  Detroit." 

"  Have  any  of  these  'hear-says'  been  proved?" 
inquired  Margaret. 

"  Not  that  I  know  of;  but  then  "  — 

"  I  beg  pardon,  sisters,"  interrupted  another ;  "  but 
I  heard  a  lady  say,  that  she  heard  a  Detroit  lady  say, 
that  she  feared  there  was  ground  for  these  rumors." 

'w  I  always  endeavor  not  to  entertain  suspicions 
upon  such  grounds,"  quietly  observed  Margaret. 


HINDERED  TO  BE  MOST  HELPFUL.  283 

"By  the  by,  Sister  Yonkin  —  I  mean  our  dear  Sister 
Hawley,  our  hostess,"  observed  a  man  whom  Margaret 
knew  as  having  given  more  trouble  to  his  pastor  than 
all  the  rest  of  the  church  together,  "  have  you  heard 
that  we  were  to  begin  the  next  season's  tent-cam- 
paign close  under  the  shadow  of  St.  John's  Church?" 

"  No  ;  indeed !     I  hope  you  will  give  it  a  shaking." 

"  We  do  not  forget  that  they  would  not  allow  us 
their  vestry  for  a  weekly  prayer  meeting." 

"If  we  tear  their  church  all  into  pieces,  it  is  no 
more  than  they  deserve." 

"As  for  me,"  loudly  remarked  another,  "I  would 
rather  any  day  save  a  person  from  these  churches, 
than  to  save  one  from  the  world." 

Thoughtful  and  sorrowful,  Margaret  a  few  minutes 
later  was  standing  alone  in  the  bay-window  of  the 
parlor,  when  a  man's  arm  was  familiarly  thrown 
around  her,  and,  as  she  indignantly  removed  it,  and 
shrunk  back,  she  recognized  to  her  unspeakable  sur- 
prise, the  Lake  Shore  University  professor  —  the 
special  friend  of  Mrs.  Hawley. 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  effects  of  Margaret's 
Christian  influence  was  the  conversion  of  her  parents. 
Without  egotism  and  censoriousness,  she  lived  Christ 
before  them  so  beautifully,  so  consistently,  that  they 
felt  and  yielded  to  the  divine  power. 

Immediately  they  took  a  special  interest  in  her 
mission  plans;  and,  as  they  had  come  to  be  in  easier 
circumstances,  to  cooperate,  at  much  expense  of  time 
and  money,  in  enlisting  the  interest  of  the  churches. 
In  a  few  months  Mr.  Kilburne  received  the  appoint- 


284  SELF-GIVING, 

ment  of  Illinois  State  secretary  in  place  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Hynes,  removed.  And  when  at  last  the  time  came 
for  Margaret  to  start  Eastward,  toward  heathen 
shores,  it  was  beautiful  to  see  the  joy  of  those  parents 
in  their  sacrifice  upon  Christ's  altar  of  their  only 
beloved  daughter. 

"  We  would  not  have  it  otherwise  if  we  could," 
said  the  happy  mother  through  her  tears. 

"  No,  Margaret,"  added  Mr.  Kilburne,  "  if  I  could 
have  all  the  wealth  of  former  years,  it  would  not  give 
me  as  great  satisfaction  as  to  feel  that  a  light  from 
our  family  is  to  shine  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism." 

"  Margie,"  said  the  mother,  as  she  came  to  the  last 
kiss,  "  we  would  never  have  known  Jesus  but  for  you. 
We  never  saw  him,  'the  chief  among  ten  thousand, 
and  the  one  altogether  lovely,'  until  we  saw  him  re- 
flected in  your  character  and  labors  the  last  two 
years." 

"  Mamma,  it  almost  seems  to  me  I  am  in  Heaven, 
instead  of  Chicago." 

"  It  is,  daughter,  the  beautiful  gate  of  the  temple," 
observed  the  father.  "  None  of  us  ever  made  so  great 
a  sacrifice  ;  but  sacrifice  is  the  entrance  to  the  bright 
world  above.      Come,  the  cars  will  not  wait  for  you." 

"  Mamma,  we  must  think  a  great  deal  of  4  the 
sweet  by  and  b}^,'  where  there  is  no  separation." 

"  Only  a  little  while  till  then,  my  daughter,"  replied 
the  father  as  he  moved  nervously  about,  seeking  to 
furnish  an  example  of  self-possession. 

u  We  will  pray  for  each  other  every  day,  father, 
mother  dear ;  will  we  not  ?  " 


HINDERED  TO  BE  MOST  HELPFUL.  285 

"Yes,  daughter,  our  lives  shall  henceforth  be  one 
grateful  prayer  for  you.  There  now,  mother,  let  her 
go.  Unclasp  your  arms,  and  trust  her  with  our 
Almighty  Friend." 

Though  Margaret  was  to  embark  at  New  York,  she 
went  first  to  Boston,  to  spend  a  few  days  with  the 
Lyddells,  by  Cleora's  special  request.  Besides,  a  large 
wholesale  druggist  there  was  to  provide  her  with  a 
medical  outfit,  for  the  use  of  which  she  had  been 
specially  preparing  by  over  a  year  of  systematic  pri- 
vate reading,  and  a  six  months'  course  of  lectures  at 
the  Chicago  Woman's  Medical  College. 

Her  visit. to  the  rebuilt  Lyddell  mansion  was  like  a 
breath  of  summer  on  a  wintry  day.  Ever  since 
Cleora  left,  the  hearts  of  her  parents  remained  closed 
and  cold  and  silent.  But  Margaret  was  a  burst  of 
sunlight.  Her  story  of  her  father's  and  mother's  con- 
version, accompanied  with  her  own  glowing  interest, 
made  more  impression  than  all  the  sermons  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lyddell  had  ever  heard. 

"  Miss  Kilburne,  I  am  a  great  sinner !  Pray  for 
me  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Lyddell  one  evening  at  the  close 
of  her  third  story  of  how  it  had  all  been  with  her 
parents. 

"  And  for  me  too,  Margaret,"  added  Mrs.  Lyddell  ; 
"my  religion  also  has  been  a  cold,  formal  profession." 

"  I  will,  and  oh !  so  gladly,  too,  if  you  will  both  fol- 
low me,"  she  answered. 

And  there  upon  their  knees  together  it  was  all 
settled  with  God.  Forgiveness  was  asked  for  having 
used  this  world  so  selfishly,  for  having  made  the  self- 


286  SELF-GIVING. 

giving  of  their  daughter  to  the  missionary  life  so 
painful,  and  for  waiting  almost  to  the  edge  of  the 
grave  for  this  consecration. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Lyddell  in  a  codicil  to  his  will 
mentioned  a  large  amount  for  missions,  arranged  to 
release  the  " Cleora-Margaret  Fund"  for  the  use  of 
Miss  Kilburne,  gave  her  a  sum  sufficient  to  pa}r  for  a 
little  tour  by  the  way  in  Europe,  and  authorized  her 
to  tell  Cleora  that  she  must  consider  herself  and  work 
a  part  again  of  the  family. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

ZENANAS   AND   BIBLE-WOMEN. 

TWO  or  three  afternoons  of  every  week  Cleora 
Litchfield  visited  the  apartments  specially  re- 
served for  the  women  in  the  houses  of  the  wealthier 
Hindu  classes.  Mungama  Ramjeeawun  or  Seetama 
Koodrukee,  two  widows  who  had  been  led  from  dark- 
ness into  light  and  been  taught  to  read  by  Cleora,  gener- 
ally accompanied  her,  and  though  the}'  could  not  ex- 
cite as  much  curiosity  nor  command  as  many  courtesies 
as  the  missionary,  they  yet  had  the  advantage  of  per- 
fect familiarity  with  the  language  and  with  the  habits 
and  customs  of  the  people.  These  and  other  Bible- 
women,  whom  she  had  in  process  of  training,  were  a 
feature  to  the  Agra  mission  of  very  great  promise. 
That  her  friend  Margaret  Kilburne  was  soon  to  come, 
to  take  a  leading  responsibility  in  this  department  pf 
the  varied  and  enormously  increasing  work  of  the 
station,  was  hopefully  and  gratefully  anticipated. 

Cleora's  introduction  to  zenana-life  was  upon  the 
cordial  invitation  of  a  w*ell-to-do  Baboo,  a  very 
thoroughly  educated  gentleman,  who  was  anxious  that 
his  wife  should  learn  to  read.  He  dared  not  teach 
her  himself  even  the  Hindi  alphabet,  for  it  would  be 
considered  a  flagrant  crime  in  native  society. 

287 


2S8  SELF-GIVING. 

The  Baboo  conducted  Cleora  through  his  own  ele- 
gant suite  of  rooms,  filled  with  English  furniture, 
arranged  with  Indian  taste,  ornamented  chiefly  with 
French  clocks  and  glass  vases,  into  the  woman's 
apartment  which  was  cheerless  in  the  extreme.  The 
walls  were  entirely  bare,  and  on  the  floors  there  were 
only  a  few,  thin,  ragged  mats.  As  the  lord  of  the 
mansion  left  his  guest  in  this  dungeon  with  his  wife, 
he  had  the  though tfulness  to  send  a  chair  for  the  use 
of  the  former. 

"  Have  you  any  children  ?  "  inquired  Cleora. 

"  Two  sons,"  replied  the  Baboo's  wife. 

"  Have  you  ever  lost  any  children  ?  " 

"  None  but  girls." 

"  I  am  sorry  for  you,  that  you  lost  your  daughters." 

"  It  was  best  to  kill  them.  My  first  was  a  girl.  If 
the  Baboo  had  been  as  rich  as  now,  he  would  not 
have  thrown  her  into  the  river,  for  I  wanted  to  keep 
her.  But  the  others  I  killed  myself  with  opium, 
though  one  of  them  he  had  to  choke  a  little." 

"But  British  law  in  India  has  now  for  many  years 
regarded  this  the  same  as  any  other  murder,  and 
punishable  with  death,  and  I  thought  the  terrible 
crime  was' being  driven  out  of  the  land." 

"  Ah,  missionar}',  a  mother's  love  is  stronger  than 
British  law.  We  know  what  it  is  to  be  a  Hindu 
woman.  The  wretchedness,  the  slavery  at  the  best, 
and  the  possibility  of  widowhood  make  it  cruel  for  us 
to  rear  our  daughters." 

"  Then  infanticide  is  very  common  still  ?  " 

"  O,  yes.      Almost  all  my  friends  have  killed  one 


ZENANAS  AND  BIBLE-WOMEN.  289 

or  more  of  their  baby-girls,  though  many  people,  they 
tell  me,  are  becoming  so  hard-hearted  as  to  let  them 
live.  The  Baboo's  brother  in  Umritsur  reports  three 
hundred  'stolen  by  the  wolves' — you  know  that  is 
what  they  say  to  the  police  —  all  girls  from  that  city, 
last  year.  My  father  lives  in  Cawnpore,  in  govern- 
ment employ,  and  he  says  that  in  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  villages  of  that  district  there  are  no  girls 
living;  and  he  has  lately  visited  two  Thakoor  towns 
of  the  Bustee  district,  where  the  census-returns  gave, 
in  the  one,  only  two  girls  to  one  hundred  and  thirty 
boys ;  and  in  the  other  no  girls  to  two  hundred  boys." 

"  To  me  this  is  terrible  — infernal !  " 

"  You  do  not  know.  You  are  not  one  of  us.  We 
Hindu  women  are  good  for  nothing  but  marriage. 
Our  husbands,  however  wicked,  are  really  our  only 
gods ;  our  priests,  our  religion.  So  say  our  Shasters, 
which  I  cannot  read,  but  I  have  heard  them  read, 
though  never  the  holy  Vedas ;  they  are  too  holy  for 
women." 

"  Were  your  babies  born  in  these  rooms,  or  in  one 
of  those  more  comfortable  apartments  through  which 
thr  Baboo  brought  me  here  ?  " 

"  Look  !  I  will  show  you."  And  the  Hindu  mother 
arose  from  the  floor  and  led  Cleora  to  the  door. 

"  Do  you  see  that  cowshed  in  the  back-yard  ? 
There  all  my  children  were  born.  Tliere  is  a  floor 
to  the  part  of  it  which  I  had,  but  it  is  cement  and  very 
cold,  so  they  gave  me  a  mat  also,  and  hung  up  one 
between  me  and  the  cows." 

"  Did  your  husband  and  friends  visit  you  there  ?  " 


290  -m      SELF-GIVING. 

"  O,  never !  If  they  looked  in,  they  could  not 
touch  me  until  the  child  —  the  boy  —  was  twenty-eight 
days  old.  Meanwhile  a  coolie-woman  kept  the  shed 
full  of  dung-smoke,  and  handed  me  my  food  on  a 
plantain  leaf  that  was  always  then  thrown  away  as 
defiled." 

"  Are  you  the  Baboo's  only  wife  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  but  I  am  always  in  fear  that  he  will  bring 
another  one  here.  If  he  should,  I  could  not  always 
speak  kindly  of  her,  and  then  the  code  of  Menu 
would  allow  him  to  divorce  me,  and  throw  me  out 
where  I  would  be  worse  off  than  a  dog." 

"  Have  you  any  sisters  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  one.  You  see  my  father  was  away  when 
both  of  us  were  born,  or  he  surely  would  have  killed 
one  at  least,  and  mother  had  not  courage  enough  to 
deal  the  most  kindly  with  us." 

"  Is  }7our  sister  married  ?  " 

uShe  is  one  of  fifty  married  to  a  Kulin  Brahman. 
She  never  saw  him  but  once.  He  does  not  support 
her,  for  he  is  a  poor  vagabond  ;  but  he  very  greatly 
honored  my  sister  and  our  family,  for  he  is  of  the 
very  highest  rank  among  the  Brahmans.  My  father 
paid  him  a  large  sum  for  the  honor." 

Cleora's  zenana-work  revealed  to  her  a  vast,  sad 
world  of  Indian  life.  The  majority,  indeed,  of  the 
Hindu  and  Mahometan  women  around  her  were  not 
secluded,  yet  even  among  them  she  was  specially 
privileged,  and  could,  with  her  Bible-women,  do  a 
work  impossible  for  men,  on  account  of  the  prevail- 
ing timidity  and  shrinking  and  degrading  caste-cus- 


ZENANAS  AND  BIBLE-WOMEN.  291 

toms.  Not,  however,  because  those  imprisoned  in  the 
zenanas  and  harems  of  India  were  of  the  wealthy 
and  aristocratic  native  families,  was  Cleora's  interest 
in  them  warmly  enlisted,  but  because  they  were  !-o 
inaccessible  to.  Christian  influences,  and  by  that 
sovereignty  which  even  in  her  degradation  woman 
must  wield  over  man,  and  by  that  other  which  the 
social  customs  and  prejudices  of  the  higher  classes 
ever  sustain  over  the  masses  beneath  them,  these 
zenana  and  harem  women  appeared  to  be  the  sustain- 
ing pillars  of  Hinduism  and  of  Moslemism ;  their 
very  life. 

Occasionally  the  "  purdah-women,"  or  M  curtain- 
women,"  named  from  the  curtains  which  partly  cover 
the  doors  to  the  zenana-rooms,  were  permitted  by  the 
Baboos  to  return  Cleora's  calls,  and  thus  to  show 
special  appreciation  of  her  labors  and  of  those  of 
her  Bible-women.  Generally,  however,  these  labors 
would  have  been  more  cordially  esteemed  could  the 
evangelizing  part  have  been  omitted.  The  calls 
were  made  in  close  carriages,  palanquins  or  bullock- 
carts,  with  guards  and  out-runners.  If  Mr.  Litchfield 
or  any  other  man  was  in  the  house,  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  leave  or  be  hidden  from  view. 

One  woman  told  Cleora  that  her  mother  was 
killed  by  her  father  to  wipe  out  the  family  disgrace 
of  her  having  once  been  seen  by  a  passing  man.  She 
had  lowered  the  slide  to  her  window  a  little  for  ven- 
tilation, and  thought  she  was  perfectly  safe  from 
observation,  but  the  man  suddenly  came  into  view 
on  a  very  high  elephant,  and  her  face  was  unveiled. 


292  SELF-GIVING. 

Entering  a  zenana  late  one  afternoon,  Cleora  found 
both  the  wives  cooking  food  for  their  husband,  and 
she  was  compelled  to  wait.  As  they  had  no  servant 
of  the  same  high  caste  of  the  Baboo,  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  his  food  to  be  prepared  by  other  than  their 
hands.  She  was  not  surprised  to  overhear  these  two 
women  quarrelling  at  their  task. 

A  few  minutes  after  they  were  at  liberty,  the 
family-barbaress  entered  to  stain  the  women's  hands 
with  henna,  and  to  rehearse  the  low,,  extravagant 
stories  of  the  gods  and  the  licentious  gossip  of  the 
neighborhood. 

Cleora  listened  as  this  woman,  whose  conversa- 
tion doubtless  represented  the  prevailing  zenana 
thought  and  social  life,  told  of  Hanuman,  the  mon- 
key-god, gathering  flowers  with  which  to  make  love 
to  the  goddess  Sita;  of  the  amours  of  Krishna;  of 
how  the  Brahman  sage  Bhriga  cursed  even  Vishnu, 
so  that  he  has  had  to  be  born  into  this  world  nine 
times,  and  must  once  more ;  of  how  the  Brahman 
Agastya  drank  the  oceans  fresh  in  three  swallows 
and  spit  them  out  salt ;  of  how  this  same  Brahman 
turned  the  king  Nahusha  into  a  snake ;  of  how  that 
the  monkey-god's  hairs  were  so  strong  as  that  each  of 
them  could  carry  a  mountain  on  its  end  ;  of  the  mar- 
riage the  day  before  of  two  idols,  and  in  the  evening 
of  their  neighbor  Thombo  Chettoar  to  a  plantain- 
tree  ;  of  how  the  little  fourteen-year-old  Appia  in 
the  next  house  had  a  second  child  "  — 

"  Stop,  please,"  exclaimed  Cleora  to  this  intermi- 
nable   story-teller  and    gossip,   "and    tell    me   how 


ZENANAS  AND  BIBLE-WOMEN.  293 

young  are  the  youngest  girls  who  are  ever  married 
among  you." 

"  Ten  is  the  common  age,  though  frequently  they 
are  mothers  before  that  time.  Indeed  some  are  mar- 
ried as  young  as  four  or  five,  but  they  are  never 
expected  to  be  mothers  until  they  are  ten,  or  at  least 
nine   years  old." 

"  Do  you  really  know  of  any  mothers  so  very 
young?  "  inquired  Cleora. 

"I  was  not  quite  ten  when  my  first  baby  was 
born,"  replied  the  first  wife  of  the  two,  who  had  thus 
far  been  listening. 

"  And  I  had  lost  three  before  I  was  fourteen  years 
old,"  added  the  other  wife. 

44  Why  have  you  so  terribly  cruel  a  custom  ?  " 

44  O,"  replied  the  barbaress,  "  the  Baboos  say  it  is  to 
keep  us  from  being  spoiled ;  and  then  our  holy  books 
teach  us  4  if  a  daughter  is  married  before  six  years  of 
age,  the  father  ascends  after  death  to  the  highest 
heaven  ;  if  not  before  seven,  to  the  second  heaven  ; 
and  if  not  until  the  age  of  ten,  he  goes  to  the  lowest 
place  assigned  to  the  blest.'  And  4if  a  girl  is  not 
married  by  the  time  she  is  eleven  years  old,  all  her 
progenitors  for  many  generations  will  suffer  pains  and 
penalties  in  the  other  world  in  consequence  of  the 
neglect  of  the  child's  parents.'  " 

Into  the  darkness  of  this  home  Cleora  then,  and  at 
other  times,  sought  faithfully  to  bring  the  light. 
Often  her  Bible-women  called  to  read  and  explain 
God's  word.  But  the  difficulties  seemed  almost  insur- 
mountable.    The  Baboo  was  willing  that   his  wives 


294  SELF-GIVING. 

should  receive  some  education  for  the  sake  of  his  little 
sons,  but  he  wanted  them  to  remain  Hindus. 

"In  my  secret  heart,  I  do  believe  in  your  religion," 
at  last  acknowledged  the  second  and  favorite  wife  to 
the  waiting,  watching  missionary. 

And  the  other  at  least  became  more  tidy  in  her 
dress  and  person,  and  the  boys  were  encouraged  more 
and  more  to  be  very  attentive  to  the  missionary.  All 
this  was  something,  and  ground  to  hope  for  more. 

Never  but  once  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  in- 
tentionally present  at  a  nautch-party,  and  then  it  was 
during  the  first  year  of  their  missionary  life.  Although 
a  nautch,  or  dancing,  is  considered  hy  Indian  Lnative 
society  an  essential  part  of  every  entertainment,  sec- 
ular or  religious,  it  was  evident  upon  this  introduction 
to  the  custom,  that  it  is  as  inconsistent  for  Christians 
to  witness  such  exhibitions  as  for  them  to  patronize 
the  ballet  upon  the  American  or  English  stage. 

But  the  little  son,  eight  years  old,  in  a  zenana 
among  the  first  where  Cleora  began  her  work,  was  to 
be  married,  and  the  father  had  arranged  to  celebrate 
the  event  with  a  great  nautch.  Nothing  would  do 
but  that  the  missionary  teacher  should  be  present,  and 
she  was  unwilling  to  come  without  her  husband. 

The  court  of  the  house  was  covered  with  canvas  and 
bunting,  ornamented  with  rich  drapery  and  a  profu- 
sion of  flowers,  and  brilliantly  lighted  with  lamps  and 
candles.  The  zenana  women  were  hidden  behind 
screens,  and  witli  the  exception  of  a  broad,  open  space 
through  the  centre,  the  entire  floor  was  crowded  with 
Baboos,  generally  clad  in  elegant  Cashmere  shawls. 


ZENANAS  AND  BIBLE-WOMEN.  295 

The  nautch-girls,  who,  accompanied  by  their  mu- 
sicians with  viols  and  tom-toms,  performed  two  by 
two  along  through  this  open  space,  absorbed  most  of 
the  attention  of  the  evening,  quite  eclipsing  even  the 
interest  centred  in  the  little  boy-bridegroom,  who  went 
to  sleep  long  before  the  party  dispersed. 

Of  course  these  dancers  were  all  professional  and 
licensed  courtesans.  No  respectable  Hindu  woman 
would  dance  in  the  presence  of  men.  It  is  difficult 
for  them  to  understand  how  Christian  women  can 
assume  so  many  virtuous  airs,  and  yet  dance  in  the 
presence  of  men,  and  with  them,  often  in  the  most 
familiar  and  voluptuous  attitudes  and  embraces. 

These  nautch-girls  were  very  beautiful,  intelligent, 
accomplished,  and  modestly  dressed.  While  their 
evident  object  throughout  the  entire  performance  was 
to  excite  passion,  they  discarded  such  gross  acces- 
sories as  "Christian"  nudity  and  gymnastics,  and 
simply  moved  back  and  forth  to  the  music,  jingling 
the  bells  on  their  wrists  and  ankles,  assuming  various 
graceful  attitudes  to  express  different  emotions,  and 
with  a  continual  play  of  the  features.  The  half- 
closed  eyes,  the  quivering  forms,  the  faltering  voice, 
all  indicated  the  consummate  art  of  these  sirens. 

Into  the  ears  of  one  of  them  Cleora  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  whisper  an  invitation : 

"If  you  will  come  to  my  home,  perhaps  I  can  be 
your  friend,  and  help  you  to  a  better  life." 

"I  will,  mem  sahib.  I  never  heard  before  a  word 
of  real  kindness." 

The  next  day  she  came,  boldly  walking  unaccom- 


296  SELF-GIVING. 

panied  through  the  crowded  streets  of  Agra,  not  even 
a  veil  over  her  face.  Coldly  she  looked  at  the  men, 
contemptuously  at  the  women.  It  had  been  only  a 
perfectly  dark  night  thus  far  in  her  life,  but  a  beauti- 
ful bright  star  had  just  dawned. 

Cleora  greeted  her  as  a  sister. 

"  Please  tell  me  your  story,  HucluV' 

"  I  was  of  the  Devangada,  or  weaver-caste,  and  my 
parents  were  persuaded  when  I  was  five  years  old,  to 
let  a  horrid  Brahman  take  me  away  to  his  temple  and 
marry  me  to  an  idol.  When  a  little  older  I  was 
dressed  in  silks  and  jewels,  and  helped  the  other 
dancing  girls  to  increase  the  revenues  of  the  temple. 
It  was  a  higher  caste-life  than  I  am  now  leading,  but 
I  could  not  endure  that  dreadful  Brahman  who  owned 
us,  and  ran  away." 

*  Why  did  your  parents  send  you  to  that  temple  ?  " 

"  I  was  a  widow.  They  had  betrothed  me  when  I 
was  three  years  old,  but  the  little  boy  died  soon  after, 
and  of  course  I  was  the  same  as  a  widow,  and  quite 
likely  to  go  to  the  bad  anyhow,  in  trying  vainly  to 
escape  the  wretchedness." 

Cleora  found  that  Huchi  could  read  and  write  in 
Hindi,  and  could  speak  English  a  great  deal  better 
than  the  young  missionaries  the  native  language. 
Her  parents  and  the  Brahmans  had  thus  specially  eclu* 
cated  her  for  a  life  of  shame. 

It  was  a  true  reformation  at  first .  opportunity. 
Huchi  became  a  Christian  and  a  useful  assistant,  and 
one  day  said  to  Cleora : 

"  I  love  you  so,  I  wish  I  could  die  for  you !  " 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

girls'  school  and  home  correspondence. 

THE  first  two  years  of  the  Agra  mission  had 
been  remarkably  successful.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Litchfield  had  hardly  had  a  taste  of  Dr.  Thomas' 
seventeen  years'  waiting  for  the  first  Bengalese  con- 
vert, or  Dr.  Judson's  six  for  the  first  Burmese,  or  of 
that  long  twenty  years'  delay  in  Tahiti  before  the 
first  dropping  of  the  plentiful  shower  of  which  all  the 
Christian  world  has  heard.  Fifty,  in  about  an  equal 
proportion  of  men  and  women,  had  joined  the  station- 
church  ;  scores  of  adults  in  other  families  also  were 
regular,  or  at  least  frequent  attendants  at  the  relig- 
ious services,  and  there  was  an  average  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  in  the  Sunday-school.  Besides,  at 
the  several  out-stations  there  were  little  companies  of 
those  who  seemed  truly  interested. 

The  third  year  opened,  and  yet  no  missionary  rein- 
forcement for  their  station.  But  the  work  was  accu- 
mulating upon  them,  and  though  it  was  perilous, 
there  seemed  no  other  way.  It  is  much  easier  for  Chris- 
tians at  home  to  prescribe  rules  for  missionary  self- 
restraint,  face  to  face  with  a  world  of  responsibility 
in  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen,  than  it  is  for  the 

297 


298  SELF-GIVIXG. 

laborers  to  carry  out  those  rules  when  only  one  life  is 
endangered  for  the  sake  of  thousands. 

"Cleora,"  observed  Llewellyn  one  evening,  as  they 
were  strolling  together  in  the  direction  of  the  Taj, 
"  we  cannot  afford  to  change  our  plan  of  fostering  the 
educational  enterprise  among  our  native  converts  and 
adherents,  which  Christian  truth  is  so  sure  to  awaken." 

"Yet  without  help  from  home  it  almost  means  a 
grave  for  us." 

"  O,  I  hope  not,  darling  !  You  are  very  weary  and 
worn,  and  must  have  a  rest  up  in  the  mountains.  But 
I  am  strong  and  equal  to  extra  work,  and  the  crisisin 
our  mission  is  so  important." 

"  Can  we  not  delay  the  new  enterprise  a  few 
months  till  Margaret  comes?" 

"I  fear  not,  Cleora,  without  extinguishing  much  of 
the  native  enthusiasm.  As  God's  truth  and  grace 
have  been  clustering  around  us  a  large  company,  we 
have  maintained  a  little  school  of  boys  and  girls  as  a 
kind  of  educational  beacon-light  —  an  incentive,  a  pat- 
tern; and  now,  just  what  we  have  been  working  and 
pra}Ting  for,  appears.  Our  native  Christian  community 
is  quite  thoroughly  aroused  to  assume  responsibility 
for  an  educational  advance  under  our  counsel  and 
superintendency.  You  know  that  though  these 
Hindus  and  ourselves  were  originally  of  the  same 
family  of  the  human  race,  they  have  lost  much  of  our 
Anglo-Saxon  patience  in  waiting  for  opportunity." 

"  I  could  not  help  thinking  to-day  of  this  kinship- 
tie  when  in  one  of  the  zenanas.  The  second  wife  had 
actually  a  striking  resemblance  to  your  old  acquaint- 


GIRLS'  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  CORRESPONDENCE.    299 

ance,  Laura  Hamilton  of  Washington.  The  com- 
plexion was  a  little  darker,  but  all  the  outline  of  the 
features  was  there." 

"But  we  must  allow  them  to  go  ahead  with  the 
school.  They  say  they  want  their  girls  to  have  as 
good  an  education  as  the  boys  receive  in  the  govern- 
ment-schools, and  that  they  will  erect  the  building 
and  pay  the  salaries  of  two  teachers.  I  see  that  they 
miscalculate,  and  that  we  shall  be  compelled  to  help 
them  financially  as  well  as  by  our  counsel  and  super- 
intendence ;  but  they  will  deserve  it,  and  the  mission- 
money  will  be  most  wisely  invested." 

"I  am  really  glad,  Llewellyn,  that  there  is  not 
much  of  that  clamoring  which  we  had  expected  for 
instruction  in  English.  Huchi  is  doubtless  right  in 
saying  that  English  in  the  mouths  of  native  girls  is 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  fiends  in  India.  She  well 
knows  the  access  it  gives  to  immoral  foreigners." 

"  Positively,  no  government  'grants-in-aid'  shall 
tempt  us  to  thus  help  the  enormous  prostitute  busi- 
ness in  this  land." 

u  Are  we  to  have  a  doll  manufactory,  or  a  school 
for  efficient,  self-reliant  women?" 

"  The  latter,  I  hope,  surely,  Cleora.  And  I  have 
been  inquiring  to-day  as  *to  what  will  be  practicable 
in  an  industrial  department." 

"Anything  in  that  line  will  keep  many  away." 

"It  is  best  that  it  should.  We  cannot  afford  any 
compromise  with  caste  while  laying  the  foundations 
for  Christianity  among  these  teeming  millions." 

"But,  Llewellyn,  Christ   did   not   directly  attack 


300  SELF-GIVING. 

slavery,  which  he*found  as  a  prevailing  custom.  The 
rather  he  quietly  set  influences  at  work  which  were 
sure  ultimately  to  overthrow  it." 

"  Yet  he  never  appeared  to  countenance  it  in  the 
least.  Really,  Cleora,  your  zenana-work  has  a  little 
prejudiced  you  in  favor  of  caste-instruction,  I  fear." 

They  had  reached  the  marble  terrace  of  the  vast 
mausoleum.  Cleora  was  out  of  breath,  and  stumbled 
once  in  ascending  the  long  flight  of  steps.  Llewellyn 
caught  her  in  his  arms  and  prevented  her  from  falling, 
but  he  saw  more  than  the  physical  weakness  of  his 
worn  and  weary  missionary  wife.  There  were  tears 
in  her  eyes  which  she  had  been  trying  to  hide  from 
him. 

He  kissed  them  away,  but  then  many  more  came. 

"Tell  me,  darling  wife,  what  do  these  tears  mean?" 

"1  was  thinking,  perhaps  I  am  hindering  you  more 
than  helping  you  in  }rour  work." 

"  O,  nonsense  !  What  put  that  into  your  dear  lit- 
tle head  ?  " 

"  I  was  reading  an  article  last  evening  from  the 
corresponding  secretary  of  the  American  Propagation 
Society,  and  in  the  use  of  very  severe  and  almost 
heartless  language,  he  condemns  the  encumbering  of 
young  men  missionaries  with  wives." 

"  He  is,  a  dyspeptic  old  fogy  !  You  are  very  foolish 
to  mind  what  he  says  upon  this  subject  at  all,  Cleora." 

"  But  he  has  a  number  of  arguments  which  are  in- 
telligible, even  if  he  does  occasionally  murder  the 
King's  English. 

"  Pshaw !      Every   one   of  them   has   been    worn 


GIRLS'  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  CORRESPONDENCE.    301 

threadbare  by  the  priests  and  monks  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  You  an  encumbrance  upon  me  in 
the  beginning  of  my  missionary  work  !  Did  Ann  H. 
Judson  obstruct  the  introductory  work  of  her  hus- 
band in  Burmah  ?  " 

"But  I  am  not  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson." 

"  Yes,  you  are  ;  her  equal,  her  superior.  You  have 
done  more  than  I  have  in  this  station  thus  far.  I 
mean  it  soberly,  in  earnest.  Our  little  daughter, 
completing  our  Christian  home,  has  proved  a  great 
blessing  among  the  natives.  But  for  you  I  would 
have  been  a  constant  object  for  immoral  suspicions, 
and  neither  native  men  nor  native  women  would  have 
trusted  me  with  anything  like  the  present  measure 
of  cordiality.  Who  was  it  cheered  me  last  fall  when 
I  was  so  awfully  blue,  and  really  thought  seriously  of 
accepting  a  government  appointment  in  the  Allahabad 
University  ? 

"  Hey,  Cleora !  perhaps  you  know  that  woman. 
If  you  do,  you  ought  to  be  proud  of  her.  I  am  ;  and 
I  think  I  will  just  now  squeeze  out  the  rest  of  those 
tears,  so  they  will  not  be  troubling  us  any  more. 

44  And  have  you  not  been  to  ever  so  many  zenanas, 
where  I  have  no  possible  access  ?  And  one  of  us  has 
been  the  very  life  of  our  school  —  not  me.  You  must 
stop  shaking  your  head.     It  goes  the  wrong  way. 

44  There  !  if  I  hold  it  tightly  against  my  shoulder 
—  thus  —  it  will  not  be  so  contrary. 

44  And  as  I  was  about  to  observe,  more  than  half  of 
the  converts  in  our  station  trace  their  religious  impres- 
sions to  your  teaching  and  example.' 


30 -i  SELF  GIVING. 

When  they  returned  to  the  mission-compound,  they 
found  a  package  of  American  letters.  The  postman 
was  there  to  collect  upon  six  of  them,  which  were 
over-weight,  the  stamps  upon  them  therefore  not 
counting. 

"  It  must  cost  us  some  twenty-five  dollars  a  year," 
remarked  Llewellyn,  "  to  pay  the  expense  of  home 
neglects  in  properly  stamping  letters  and  papers." 

"Let  us  open  them,"  replied  Cleora,  "and  see  if 
we  get  our  money's  worth." 

"  That  is  for  you  ;  and  as  it  is  evidently  a  woman's 
handwriting,  I  will  be  so  indulgent  a  husband  as  to 
allow  you  to  open  it." 

"  A  girl  sixteen  years  old  wants  me  to  encourage 
her  coming  out  here  as  a  missionary." 

"  Bosh!  She  may  be  ever  so  intelligent  and  pious, 
but  she  cannot  know  her  own  mind  sufficiently  for 
this  work." 

"  Yes,  Llewellyn  ;  I  should  say  to  all  young  women 
under  twenty-five  —  I  had  almost  said  thirty — do  not 
come.     For  the  sake  of  the  cause,  do  not  come  !  " 

"  Well !  well !  It  appears  from  this  letter  that  we 
are  all  wrong  in  regard  to  the  support  of  this  mission. 
A  rich  Boston  layman  says  if  we  will  only  cut  loose 
from  the  regular  society,  and  cast  ourselves  wholly 
on  the  Lord,  he  will  promise  to  send  us  monthly  the 
same  amount  we  are  now  receiving  for  salary  and 
incidental  expenses." 

Cleora  did  not  say  a  word,  but  ran  for  the  tongs, 
picked  the  letter  as  if  it  were  a  snake  out  of  her  hus- 
band's hands,  and  dropped  it  into  the  kitchen  fire. 


GIRLS'  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  CORRESPONDENCE.    303 

Returning  to  the  table,  she  tore  open  the  next 
envelope,  and  soon  exclaimed  : 

'*  Of  course  here  is  another  of  the  continually  com- 
ing hasty -pudding  letters,  as  I  call  them.  A  woman 
who  is  probably  too  economical  to  supply  herself  with 
a  sufficient  number  of  the  mission-periodicals,  as 
also  too  indolent  to  go  to  work  effectively  to  cultivate 
the  missionary  spirit  in  her  community,  writes  me  a 
little  single-page  letter,  asking  that  I  write  some- 
thing that  will  stir  up  the  interest  in  the  cause  among 
them." 

"  Well,  Cleora,  here  is  another  hobby  which  a 
good  brother  in  Pennsylvania  is  riding.  He  wants  to 
know  if  I  do  not  think  the  great  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  evangelizing  the  teeming  millions  of  heathenism  is 
the  amount  of  salary  given  to  the  secretaries  and 
treasurers  of  our  mission-societies." 

"  Does  he  think  that  they  are  too  small  ?  " 

"  O  !  you  know  better.  He  writes  as  if  the  execu- 
tive officers  at  the  Rooms  absorbed  ninety-nine  per 
cent,  of  the  annual  incomes." 

"  Remember  the  story,  Llewellyn,  of  the  five  hun- 
dred black  cats." 

"  He  says  he  would  be  willing  to  take  the  secreta- 
ryship for  one  thousand  dollars.  But  I  happen  to 
know  that  his  wife  has  three  thousand  dollars  interest- 
money  every  year.  So,  after  all,  he  does  not  reckon 
so  closely  as  those  whom  he  criticizes." 

"  But  why  in  the  world  does  he  write  to  you  about 
it?" 

44  The  Lord  knows,  I  do  not,  even  as  about  much 


304  SELF-GIVING. 

else  of  this  Lome  correspondence.     What  is  that  you 
have  ?  " 

"  Ten  three-cent  United  States  postage-stamps  with 
which  to  buy  some  Indian  curiosities,  and  send  to  St. 
Paul,  Minnesota." 

"  Whew  !  We  must  take  so  large  a  remittance  at 
once  to  the  fort,  and  have  it  placed  in  Colonel  Osgood's 
safe.  Wonder  if  it  will  be  quoted  to-morrow  in  the  Cal- 
cutta exchange ! " 

"  O,  you  are  too  hard  on  this  good  sister.  She  did 
not  think  of  these  stamps  being  worthless  here,  and 
does  not  know  that  thirty  cents  will  go  but  little  ways 
toward  buying  things  in  India." 

"  Yes ,  does  not  think ,  does  not  know.  But  the 
time  has  come  when  thoughtlessness  and  ignorance 
among  Christians  upon  the  most  common  information 
contained  in  missionary  literature,  is  inexcusable." 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Litchfield,  here  is  a  lady's  handwriting, 
and  addressed  to  you.  I  must  examine  it  first  before 
allowing  you  possibly  to  see  it." 

"  Ha,  ha !  A  woman  in  Portland,  Maine,  sends 
her  deceased  grandfather's  library  to  you.  He  was  a 
minister.  She  says  you  will  probably  be  willing  to 
pay  the  freight  at  this  end." 

"  Probably  ?  Doubtless  !  What  rapture  it  will 
give  me  to  pay  half  a  month's  salary  for  his  old  col- 
lection of  encyclopaedias,  sermons,  and  patent-oflfice- 
re ports!  " 

"  Do  not  worry.  I  will  inquire  the  price  of  old 
paper  Perhaps  we  can  raise  half  the  freight  that 
way." 


GIRLS'  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  CORRESPONDENCE.    305 

"  Well,  this  is  pious  shrewdness,  truly." 

"Something  official,  Llewellyn?  I  see  a  printed 
heading." 

"  Yes ,  it  is  from  the  secretary  of  the  Great  Western 
Bible  and  Tract  Society.  People  have  very  little 
interest  in  it.  A  small  concern;  barely  able  to  pay 
his  salary.  But  he  wants  me  to  make  application  to 
him  for  ten  thousand  Hindi  Testaments,  accom- 
panied with  a  vivid  statement  of  the  great  need  ;  and 
then  he  can  quote  me  as  alienated  from  the  old 
mother-society,  and  as  indorsing  his  half-pint  enter- 
prise." 

11  Here  is  a  little  box  ;  what  can  it  be  ?  " 

"  I  hope  it  is  something,  for  I  had  to  pay  half  a 
rupee  extra  postage  on  that.  Ugh  !  a  bottle.  That  is 
why  the  small  package  was  so  heavy." 

"  Brown's  Colic  Assuager." 

"  Let  me  have  it.  I  see  a  lizard  on  the  fence,  and 
will  try  and  hit  it.  Doubtless  one  of  those  other  let- 
ters asks  for  a  testimonial." 

"There!  you  did  not  even  hit  the  fence.     Sit  down 

again  and  listen  to  this :  " 

Toledo,  Ohio. 
Dear  Sister  :  —  I    want   to   support  a  girl  in    your    school, 
and  name  her  after  me,  and  have  her  write  to  me  often;  and  I  will 
send  her  nice  things  every  little  while,  and  — 

"  Do  not  read  me  any  more  of  that,  Cleora.  We  are 
not  going  to  spoil  any  of  our  girls  for  her  sake.  Such 
pronounced  foreign  favoritism  would  do  a  world  of 
harm,  not  only  to  the  unfortunate  girl  herself,  but  to 
the  whole  school/' 


306  SELF-GIVING. 

44  I  agree  with  you,  but  perhaps  I  can  persuade  her 
to  trust  her  gift  to  the  Society  and  to  us  under  God"." 

"All  right.  But  the  letter  appears  to  me  as  if  she 
was  trying  to  place  an  extra  feather  on  her  bonnet." 

44  Only  two  more  :  that  for  you,  and  this  for  me. 
What  is  yours,  Llewellyn?  " 

44  A  long  letter.  Oar  churches  in  Iowa  want  to 
support  us,  and  have  our  station  all  to  themselves." 

"And  ask  us  to  give  up  the  inspiration  of  feeling 
that  our  many  dear  friends  in  Massachusetts  and  New 
York  are  cooperating  with  us!  " 

44  Yes,  Cleora,  and  in  a  measure  rob  the  churches  in 
all  the  other  States  of  the  encouragement  of  our  work  ; 
and  leave  some  field,  where  little  or  no  apparent  suc- 
cess attends,  as  a  Hobson's  choice.  With  all  the 
kindly  feeling  manifested,  it  is  yet  very  trying  to 
receive  such  selfish  proposals." 

44  O,  there  is  a  box  coming,  Llewell}rn  !  " 

44  No  more  old  useless  libraries,  C.  O.  D.,  I  hope. 
But  sure  enough,  old  clothes;  just  as  bad!  And  old 
boots  and  shoes  too.  It  says  we  can  give  them  to  the 
natives  ;  of  course  it  is  meant  that  we  wear  them." 

44  Grateful  tears,  Cleora,  should  course  down  our 
cheeks.  Read  on,  and  see  if  they  have  also  sent  any 
of  those  indispensable  last  year  almanacs." 

44  No  ;  but  a  good  woman  encloses  her  old  winter's 
bonnet  which  had  only  been  done  over  twice.  She 
says  I  can  send  to  Paris  for  some  new  strings. 
Whew  !   rice  also." 

"  How  perfectly  happy  we  would  be  if  the\'  had 
added  also  some  of  our  ubiquitous  Indian  curry !  " 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

FRUITS    BITTER   AND    SWEET. 

ENTIRELY  unexpected  to  the  inmates  of  one  of 
the  leading  native  Christian  homes  in  Agra, 
Cleora  Litchfield  one  afternoon  called  for  a  few 
moments'  rest,  before  visiting  another  heathen  zenana. 
Never  since  the  mother,  sister,  and  daughter  had 
made  a  public  profession  of  Christian  faith,  six  months 
previously,  had  the  missionaries  observed  in  them  or 
in  the  husband,  a  still  earlier  convert,  any  lingering 
traces  of  the  old  idolatry  and  superstition. 

But  as  she  entered,  a  Brahman  hurriedly  passed 
out,  leaving  the  group  before  the  new  visitor  evidently 
in  great  confusion  and  shame. 

"  What  does  this  mean,  Kenaidah?  Have  you  been 
praying  to  this  Brahman  ?  " 

"  Only  because  Zalenu  stepped  on  a  worm  and  killed 
it,  and  perhaps  it  may  have  been  her  grandfather  or 
uncle.'* 

"  I  am  too  sick  at  heart  to  stop  and  talk  with  you 
now,"  replied  Cleora.  "  You  have  been  taught  many 
times  the  wickedness  of  worshipping  any  other  than 
God,  and  the  folly  of  believing  that  human  spirits 
pass  into  the  bodies  of  insects  and  animals.     I  am  not 

307 


308  SELF-GIVING. 

angry  with  you,  but  I  feel  so  sadly,  I  cannot  do 
anything  more  to-day." 

The  same  evening  Llewellyn  had  an  experience 
winch  brought  him  at  once  into  fresh  sympathy  with 
his  wife. 

There  were  three  Hindu  men  of  unusually  intelli- 
gent and  capable  appearance,  who  had  been  regularly 
at  all  the  public  services  in  the  chapel  for  three 
months.  Many  times  the  missionary  had  prepared 
and  spoken  specially  for  their  benefit. 

Most  gladly  Mr.  Litchfield  welcomed  them  this 
evening  at  his  home  to  a  personal  interview.  It  must 
be  they  are  genuine  inquirers.  Perhaps  they  are  quite 
read)*  to  profess  Christianity. 

"  We  have  called,  Sahib,"  said  the  leader,  "  to  offer  to 
join  your  followers  for  two  rupees  each  a  month.  The 
Roman  Catholics  paid  us  one  rupee  every  month  for 
three  years,  but  we  thought  it  worth  more,  and  will 
leave  them  entirely,  and  put  ourselves  at  your  service." 

One  morning  two  of  the  young  men  of  the  theo- 
logical class  were  missing.  They  had  not  reported 
themselves  ill,  or  as  called  away  temporarily  by  any 
family  affairs.  And  3-et  day  after  day  nothing  was 
heard  from  them.  It  was  very  extraordinary  and 
inexplicable. 

These  young  men  had  been  among  the  six  under 
Mr.  Litchfield's  instruction,  almost  from  the  beginning 
of  his  effort  to  train  up  a  native  ministry.  He  had 
had  no  cause  to  doubt  their  piety,  and  they  seemed  to 
be  thoroughly  persuaded  of  their  duty  to  prepare 
to  preach  the  Gospel  to  their  fellow  countrymen. 


FRUITS  BITTER  AND  SWEET.  309 

But  it  proved  that  government  positions  had  been 
offered  them,  and  that  they  were  unable  to  resist  the 
temptation.  Their  salaries  were  to  be  three  times 
what  they  could  ever  expect  in  the  ministry.  And 
that  which  added  probably  to  their  shame,  as  it  cer- 
tainly did  to  the  grief  of  the  missionaries,  was  that 
their  clerkships  were  in  the  opium  department  of  the 
internal  revenue  service. 

The  following  incident  led  Mr.  Litchfield  ever  after, 
to  make  it  a  point  to  question  as  many  as  possible  of 
his  hearers  as  to  what  they  had  understood  him  to 
mean  by  his  sermon  or  exhortation. 

He  had  been  discoursing  upon  Christ's  coming  from 
heaven,  sending  his  disciples  throughout  the  world  to 
preach  his  Gospel,  and  giving  them  the  Scriptures  as 
an  all-sufficient  record  of  revealed  truth. 

On  reaching  the  vestibule  of  the  chapel  at  the  close 
of  the  service  two  Hindus  from  his  congregation  fell 
upon  their  knees  before  the  missionary  and  worshipped 
him.     Upon  his  rebuking  them,  they  declared: 

"  You  have  taught  us  that  you  are  a  Christian 
Brahman,  that  your  Christ  is  the  last  incarnation  of 
Vishnu,  and  your  Scriptures  the  new  Puranas." 

Another  constant  trial  was  the  lapsing  of  the  con- 
verts into  Sabbath  desecration.  The  Roman  Catholics 
allowed  the  continuance  of  daily  employment  as  among 
the  heathen,  except  during  the  hour  of  the  celebration 
of  the  mass.  The  missionaries  of  one  of  the  other 
Protestant  societies,  though  not  so  indulgent,  were 
unwilling  to  make  Sabbath  breaking  itself  a  ground 
for  church-discipline. 


310  SELF  GIVING. 

But  Llewellyn  and  Cleora  felt  unshaken  in  the  con- 
viction that  they  could  not  afford  to  com  promise  the 
sanctity  of  the  Lord's  day.  They  could  by  no  means 
see  the  way  out  of  all  the  embarrassments  involved  in 
poor  converts  from  heathenism  breaking  off  at  once 
for  one  seventh  of  their  time  from  all  secular  employ- 
ment, but  they  believed  God  did.  They  were  confi 
dent  that  the  all-overruling  Providence  would  make 
the  willing  obedience  of  every  true  disciple  in  this 
respect  also  practicable  ;  and  they  were  right. 

Considerable  difficulty  was  experienced  among  the 
native  Christian  community  in  the  matter  of  break- 
ing up  the  dreadful  social  customs  of  childhood- 
betrothal  and  marriage.  Long  after  the  adherents 
of  the  mission  had  lost  all  respect  for  the  authority 
of  the  Hindu  Shasters  and  the  code  of  Menu,  the 
custom  of  their  ancestors  and  of  the  teeming  millions 
around  them  exerted  in  many  respects  a  powerful 
influence  over  their  feeling  and  conduct.  They  were 
slow  to  realize  that  true  love  is  at  all  necessary  to 
marriage,  or  that  the  inclinations  of  the  parties  them- 
selves ought  in  the  least  be  taken  into  account  in  the 
parental  adjustment  of  the  new  relation.  They  were 
not  entirely  ignorant  of  genuine  matrimonial  affection, 
but  usually  their  highest  conception  of  domestic  hap- 
piness was  in  the  satisfaction  of  a  merely  selfish  fanc}r, 
which,  however,  was  purely  incidental  to  the  business- 
arrangements  of  the  heads  of  their  respective  families. 

In  the  home  of  one  of  their  deacons,  Mrs.  Litchfield 
was  astonished,  during  an  afternoon's  call,  to  see  a 
red  paint  mark,  an  inch  long,  in  the  parting  of  the 


FRUITS  BITTER  AND  SWEET,  311 

hair  of  the  little  four-year-old  daughter  of  their  Sun- 
day-school superintendent, 

"  O,  my  sister  Limenah,  can  it  be  possible,"  ex- 
claimed the  missionary,  "that  you  have  married  your 
eight-year-old  son  to  this  little  girl  who  is  scarcely 
more  than  a  baby  ?  " 

"  We  know  it  is  wrong.  But  the  pressure  of  our 
relatives  and  others  was  so  great !  We  hoped  you 
would  not  learn  of  it  so  soon." 

"  When  were  they  betrothed  ?  " 

"  A  year  ago.  But,  indeed,  they  shall  only  be  like 
children  together,  until  she  is  eight  years  old  and  my 
son  is  twelve." 

"  Ah,  Limenah,  you  cannot  make  this  right  at  all. 
For  one,  yes,  two  lives,  you  have  destroyed  God's 
beautiful  gift  of  childhood.  It  is  dreadful  to  think 
that,  notwithstanding  all  the  new  light  we  have 
brought  you  from  our  Saviour,  you  have  made  it  pos- 
sible for  this  girl  to  be  a  widow  with  dependent  chil- 
dren before  she  has  reached  her  teens." 

Deacon  and  superintendent  and  their  wives  were 
called  together.  They  seemed  truly  penitent,  and 
promised  to  support  each  child  separately  at  home 
until  they  had  grown  to  manhood^and  womanhood. 
But  heathenism  had  scored  a  great  victory  over  the 
Agra  Christian  community  ;  a  weakness  of  principle 
had  been  illustrated,  and  a  heavy  burden  added  to 
the  hearts  of  the  missionaries,  which  they  must  con- 
tinue to  carry. 

The  most  bitter  fruit  they  were  caljed  upon  to 
taste  was  the  complete  apostasy  of  one  of  the  two 


312  SELF-GIVING. 

* 

young  men  before  mentioned  as  having  left  Mr. 
Litchfield's  theological  class  for  a  position  in  the  gov- 
ernment civil  "service.  A  spirit  of  forbearance  had 
apparently  won  him  back  to  the  discharge  of  the  or- 
dinary duties  of  a  native  Christian. 

A  party  of  American  travellers  from  Baltimore  and 
Cincinnati  were  spending  three  days  in  Agra.  After 
they  had  seen  the  Taj,  both  in  the  daytime  and  at 
night,  they  happened  upon  an  introduction  to  Mr. 
Litchfield,  who  was  calling  at  the  hotel  on  a  matter 
of  business  with  the  proprietor. 

He  invited  them  cordially  to  visit  the  mission 
premises;  but  fearing  that  it  would  not  prove  very 
interesting  to  them,  he  added  a  promise  to  conduct 
them  to  one  of  the  Hindu  temples. 

A  great  festival  was  in  progress,  and  they  found 
the  temple  crowded  with  devotees.  No  descriptions 
of  the  numerous  objects  of  worship  scattered  around 
on  several  platforms  and  in  many  niches,  were  neces- 
sary. Modesty  forbade  leader  or  company  to  more 
than  move  about  through  the  shocking  exhibition  of 
obscenity  and  human  depravity,  with  silent  com- 
pressed lips. 

At  one  of  the  loathsome  shrines  stood  a  noble-ap- 
pearing young  man,  officiating  as  priest  and  busy 
receiving  the  offerings  which  multitudes  were  making 
to  Siva. 

Llewejlyn  needed  but  a  single  glance  to  recognize 
one  for  whose  conversion  he  had  labored,  one  whom 
he  had  baptized  and  instructed  daily  for  more  than  a 
year,  that  he  might  be  qualified  to  preach  the  Gospel. 


FRUITS  BITTER  AND  SWEET.  313 

Either  he  had  lost  his  government  situation,  or  the 
temple  priests  had  tempted  him  with  a  larger  salary. 
The  heart-sick  missionary  could  not  linger,  and  at 
once  begged  his  companions  to  allow  him  to  conduct 
them  to  their  hotel. 

But  it  is,  indeed,  always  darkest  just  before  day. 
And  of  the  sunshine  that  was  awaiting  him  upon 
return  home,  he  had  some  anticipatory,  twilight 
glimpses  by  the  way. 

He  passed  the  little  bazaar-stalls  of  the  three  con- 
sistent, converts,  Manohar  Lai,  Hari  Ram,  and  Tha- 
kur  Dass.  They  all  seemed  to  have  their  hands 
unusually  full  with  customers,  and  Llewellyn  congrat- 
ulated the  latter  on  this  fact. 

aO,  yes,"  Thakur  Dass  replied  most  cheerfully; 
"  my  customers  know  that  I  close  shop  to-morrow, 
the  Lord's  day,  and  they  crowd  me  unusually  Satur- 
days." 

"  Has  your  observance  of  the  Sabbath  hurt  your 
business  at  all  ?  " 

"  Not  in  the  long  run.  At  first  it  did  ;  but  it  has 
since  proved  the  best  advertisement  I  could  possibly 
have." 

In  front  of  the  mission-grounds  Llewellyn  met 
Khairat  Masih  and  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  all 
walking  along  together,  a  lovely  Christian  family. 
The  girls  were  seven  and  nine  years  old  respectively, 
and  not  disfigured  with  any  hideous  signs  of  betrothal 
or  marriage. 

In  a  moment  across  the  road  came  running  glee- 
fully the  little  ten-year-old  son  of  the  senior  deacon, 


314  SELF-GIVING. 

Rahim  Buksh,  and  the  two  years  younger  daughter  of 
the  native  preacher,  Imam  Chuttree.  And  it  was  de- 
lightful to  watch  these  four  children,  full}r  enjoying 
childhood  in  the  freedom  of  Christian  truth  and 
iufluence.  Directly  over  the  little  silken  heads  of  that 
frolicking  group,  the  grateful  missionary  could  see,  as 
it  were,  a  rift  in  the  dark,  dense  cloud  of  Hindu 
heathenism. 

"  Two  native  brethren  in  your  study  wish  to  meet 
you  —  Sudin  Karan  and  Prem  Chand,"  announced 
Cleora  as  Llewellyn  reached  the  veranda. 

Both  were  operators  in  the  telegraph  office,  and 
were  receiving  the  large  native  wages  of  thirty  rupees 
a  month. 

"  We  believe  it  our  duty,"  said  the  former,  "  to 
prepare  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  our  Hindu  fellow- 
countrymen.     We  have  much  leisure  for  study." 

"  But,"  replied  Mr.  Litchfield,  "  neither  the  Mis- 
sion nor  the  native  Christians  can  afford  you  half 
your  present  salaries  when  you  are  ready  to  resign 
your  government  positions  and  give  yourselves  wholly 
to  the  ministry." 

"  We  have  thought  of  all  that,"  responded  Prem 
Chand.  "  We  shall  be  very  glad  to  make  the  sacrifice 
for  Christ,  who  gave  up  all  for  us." 

44  Yes,  indeed,"  continued  Sudin  Karan  ;  "  or  rather 
there  will  be  no  sacrifice  at  all,  to  economize  a  little 
more  in  food  and  clothing,  in  order  to  have  opportu- 
nity to  work  all  the  while  for  the  establishment  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  India." 

It  was  nearly  time  for  the  daily  preaching-service, 


FRUITS  LITTER  AND  SWEET.  315 

established  by  the  native  pastor  for  the  hour  after  the 
close  of  business  in  the  bazaar.  The  happy  mission- 
ary and  the  two  applicants  for  noblest  work  on  earth 
repaired  to  the  chapel.    - 

And  such  a  sermon !  Lleweltyn  knew  he  could 
not  have  preached  a  better  one  himself.  It  was 
thoroughly  Scriptural,  full  of  thought,  and  deeply 
earnest. 

The  missionary  recognized  an  unusual  tremulous- 
ness  at  times  in  the  voice  of  his  assistant,  and  waiting 
till  the  congregation  had  dispersed,  he  inquired : 

"Saroop  Singh,  is  your  heart  very  heav}r  to-day?" 

"  Come  to  my  house  and  dine  with  me,  and  I  will 
tell  you." 

"  May  I  send  for  Mrs.  Litchfield  also  ?  " 

"Certainly,  and  my  wife  will  be  very  happy.  It 
will  be  simple  food,  you  know.*' 

The  four  sat  around  the  humble  table  until  very 
late,  listening  to  many  incidents  of  Saroop  Singh's 
Christian  experience,  entirety  new  to  the  missionaries. 

"  As  I  was  born  a  Brahman,"  he  continued,  "  every 
effort  has  been  made  by  my  parents  and  the  Hindu 
priesthood,  to  thwart  my  Christian  purposes.  Espe- 
cially during  the  last  six  months,  since  I  have  taken 
a  prominent  position  in  the  mission-work. 

"  Mother  has  performed  long  pilgrimages  to  famous 
shrines  to  accomplish  my  restoration  to  Hinduism. 
Repeatedly  the  Brahmans  have  imparted  to  her  for 
extravagant  fees,  the  secret  of  my  salvation  from 
Christianity,  and  full  reinstatement  in  caste-jjriv- 
ileges. 


316  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Generally  when  she  visits  us  (she  has  not  been 
here  this  week),  there  wrill  be  some  peculiar  taste  to 
the  tea  or  coffee  ,  or  it  will  be  the  food,  which  is  often 
made  very  offensive  and  unwholesome  by  the  effica- 
cious materials  prescribed  by  the  villainous  and  filthy 
Brahmans." 

u  Please  give  me  an  idea  of  the  probable  remedies 
proposed  and  with  which  your  mother  has  been  exper- 
imenting. Your  long,  previous  experience  among  the 
Brahmans  must  have  made  you  quite  familiar  with 
their  Satanic  arts.1' 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  all  at  this  time,  but  the  most 
frequent  prescription  is  to  mix  with  the  drink  or 
food  the  excrements  of  a  cow." 

"  What  special  effort  has  your  father  been  making 
to  reclaim  you  ? "  inquired  Llewellyn,  anxious  to 
continue  the  subject,  yet  so  to  change  it  as  to  save 
his  wife's  appetite. 

"  The  dear  old  man  !  He  is  over  eighty.  Many 
times  he  has  walked  two  miles  from  his  home  to  ours 
to  reason  with  me,  and  to  beg  me  to  leave  the  'for- 
eign deviltry,'  as  he  calls  our  religion. 

"  Yesterday  he  was  here  for  the  last  time,  and  he 
got  down  on  this  floor  and  entreated  me  with  tears 
in  his  eyes.  And  by  that  door  he  threw  his  arms 
around  my  neck,  and  put  his  head  on  my  shoulder 
and  pleaded  with  me,  for  the  sake  of  my  ancestors, 
for  the  happiness  of  my  parents,  and  as  I  would 
escape  millions  of  years  to  come  of  life  in  snakes,  and 
rats,  and  all  most  loathsome  creatures,  to  come  back, 
pledging  he  would  give  all  his  property,  and  his  own 


FRUITS  BITTER  AND  SWEET.  317 

life  if  necessary,  to  the  Brahman  priesthood  in  order 
to  reinstate  me  in  the  exalted  rank  of  my  caste." 

"  Why  do  you  say  this  was  his  last  meeting  with 
you,  Saroop  Singh  ?  "  inquired  Cleora. 

"All!  that  was  why  my  heart  was  so  soft  at 
service-time  this  afternoon.  They  were  having  my 
funeral,  just  as  if  I  was  dead.  My  parents,  and  all 
my  relatives,  and  many  Brahmans  no  doubt,  went 
through  the  whole  ceremony,  and  my  funeral  pile 
was  kindled  the  same  as  if  this  body  had  been  there 
to  be  burned.  They  will  never  speak  to  me  again,  or 
give  me  a  look  of  recognition  when  passing  me  in 
the  street,  or  mention  my  name  in  the  family-circle. 
4  But  I  am  persuaded  that  nothing  shall  be  able  to  sep- 
arate me  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  my  Lord.'  " 


A 


CrXArXI?.  XXXI. 
T~  i   :; ".  :  v  "  i 

[HOUGH  Margaret  Kflbmne  was  noway 
impatient  to  reach   India,  it  was   as  wise 
far  her  to  delay  a  few  weeks  before  entering  the 

:XX_^-x  :  S:  :ir:i  A-:-..  ..:  :'::  :  -.  --.-.  ■:_«_.:  :i 
~aX  -ir  : : :  r:.-:- i  ~  X  e  A"....:.:  .  :■:  ""'...:  X:  "  nj 
X.X:X:  :~7i:j-X  . :  1:  -.:'-  --"X  At  :-.::...:-.  e:..:-~ 
X:..:    .  .  :.:-  i 

A  ..,  ■:::•::■■:.  X.X-::.  ~XX  ~'i-.  :.:  X<  —  t?t 
b^ir.r  --.:.•:-■■  -  -'--  :iX:r  :i,:,x:::::  X  .  __  ..  l-  :  .• 
':  ; :.  .z  -xilA  .  ;  .  : :  r..-X  ::.:.:  r~f  .:  z  X:  Az::::;:, 
rXtZ:X::  . :   .::::::..:.:-•...::..•:.:  ::.:7  ~  . :::  - 1 

1:1::  Z  ".'A..:    : r:        X      r    ;-:    . l: .-'  ...•-'.-■•';     XX 

a  row  boat  and  hastened  to  greet  the  ialen  soldier. 
51-=  —.:..:  V.z-~    A:  ;  X:. :..   ::'  X  .'  z:  .  i.  I  .:ll.i. 

.Ah,    Miss  Kilbiime,""  said  she,  Mjon  are  wry 

~ X-t   LA   A    :i.l£    X     X  HILtI.  .LL  Z   "ALT    ~  .  :  £    1_    Xia 

alA  l.x  X  ax  XX." 

wBcnt  I  do  think  of  it  a  great  deal,  and  am  qraitte 
nnreeonciled  to  spending  so  mneh  time  on  the  way. 

:■<::    -.zxrz   r.    z. ;  :.:!::    X  iaaa...    llX   __rA zi : 

XAcr-A 

Ax:   ?::-.:::::   a   v—7   1 '.'■    Xa....a.:..z  ~:a. 


7  ;-    1    -•■  ,      777     77-"  £  ~-77x  7,'r 


- 


320  SELF-GIVING. 

the  churches  would  express  surprise  at  seeing  me 
home  so  soon  on  the  sick-list.  They  might  not  say  it 
in  so  many  words,  but  all  their  looks  and  actions 
would  mean  — 4  You  had  no  business  to  leave  your 
husband  and  work  and  come  home,  you  strong,  healthy 
woman.     You  were  homesick,  that  was  all." 

In  a  second  class  car,  by  the  Midland  route,  as  the 
most  picturesque,  through  the  celebrated  towns  of 
Leicester,  Derby  and  Bedford,  Margaret  rode  to  Lon- 
don. Much  as  she  had  read  about  English  rural 
scenery,  she  felt  indeed  the  half  had  not  been  told  her. 
Of  an  intelligent  Manchester  merchant,  who  with  his 
wife  sat  next  to  her,  she  inquired  : 

"  Why  are  so  many  emigrating  to  America  from 
this  charmingly  beautiful  country?  " 

"It  does  not  belong  to  them.  They  belong  to  the 
land,  and  it  is  quite  natural  for  men  to  try  to  escape 
from  bondage." 

No  sooner  was  Margaret  comfortably  located  in  a 
small,  economical  family  hotel  in  London,  situated 
near  the  Museum,  a  boarding-place  to  which  she  had 
been  recommended  by  mission  friends  in  New  York, 
than  she  was  beset  by  an  agent  of  Baker's  Con- 
tinental Excursions,  to  join  a  six  weeks'  company  of 
tourists  through  France,  Switzerland,  Bavaria  and 
Italy. 

But  the  young  American  had  had  her  eyes  and 
ears  open,  and  had  very  wisely  concluded  that 
crutches  are  of  no  use  to  those  who  can  walk  without 
them  .  that  forethought,  prudence  and  tact  are  as 
reliable    as  any  tourist-agency ,    and   that    half   the 


TWO  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE.  321 

pleasure  of  travelling  is  thrown  away  by  yielding  to 
the  opportunity  of  self-reliance. 

With  her  speaking-knowledge  of  French  and  Ger- 
man, and  her  large  bundle  of  introductory  letters  to 
residents  in  Paris,  Geneva,  Lucerne,  Munich,  Venice, 
Rome  and  Naples,  she  decided  upon  her  own  "  per- 
sonally conducted  tour/'  And  she  never  had  occa- 
sion to  regret  this  independent  arrangement. 

When  in  Geneva  for  two  days,  she  crossed  the 
track  of  the  very  party  she  would  otherwise  have 
joined.  Those  to  whom  she  was  here  introduced  had 
gone  up  the  lake  to  Lausanne,  and  Margaret  was 
thrown  upon  her  own  resources  entirely.  Going  to 
one  of  the  best  hotels,  she  registered,  and  was  assigned 
a  very  dismal  and  uncomfortable  room. 

Calling  the  proprietor,  she  protested  against  such 
wretched  accommodations  for  the  price  she  was  expect- 
ing to  pay. 

"  Upon  your  coupons,  mademoiselle,  we  cannot 
afford  to  do  better.  We  have  to  return  so  large  a 
percentage  to  your  tourist  agency." 

"  I  have  no  coupons,  sir  .  and  do  not  belong  to 
any  one  but  myself.  I  wish  to  pay  in  cash  five  francs 
a  day  for  my  room,  including  service." 

"Ah,  beg  your  pardon  a  thousand  times,  mad- 
emoiselle. The  porter  will  at  once  show  you  more 
desirable  accommodations.  And  it  would  be  much 
more  agreeable  for  you  everywhere,  to  notify  that  you 
do  not  settle  your  bills  with  paper,  which  hotel  pro- 
prietors must  discount  for  from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent." 

In  London  Margaret  worked  diligently,  so  as  to 


322  SELF-GIVING. 

escape  the  fog  as  soon  as  possible.  It  was  much 
worse  than  the  coal  smoke  of  Pittsburg  and  Cincin- 
nati. Three  of  her  five  days  in  this  vast  metropolis 
of  the  world  were  so  dark  that  the  restaurants  where 
she  lunched  at  noon  required  the  use  of  gaslight. 

She  visited  the  richly  stored  Museum,  the  vener- 
able Westminster  Abbey,  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  Bank  of  England,  the 
National  Gallery  on  Trafalgar  Square,  the  Zoological 
Gardens  in  Regent's  Park,  theTower,  and,  in  company 
with  her  new  mission  friends,  she  was  enabled  also  to 
make  a  hurried  excursion  to  Windsor  Castle. 

From  the  great  park  upon  the  south  side  of  the 
castle,  Margaret  was  delighted  to  see  Queen  Victoria 
seated  at  one  of  the  windows.  Her  friends,  who  had 
often  met  their  Sovereign  driving  in  Hyde  Park,  were 
sure  there  was  no  mistake. 

Neither  in  London  nor  Paris  did  Miss  Kilburne 
allow  the  achievements  of  human  art  to  monopolize 
all  her  attention.  In  each  city  she  spent  one  Sunday, 
going  in  the  former  to  Spurgeon's,  Parker's,  and  an 
orphan  asylum  service,  and  in  the  latter  to  the  Rue 
de  Berri  chapel,  a  meeting  of  Christians  since  wor- 
shipping in  their  own  beautiful  sanctuary  upon  the 
Rue  de  Lille,  and  to  a  prayer  and  conference  meeting 
of  missionaries  in  the  Belleville  district. 

In  the  gay  French  capital  a  few  hours  each  were 
spent  in  the  galleries  of  the  Louvre  and  the  Luxem- 
bourg, upon  the  Champs  Elysees  and  in  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  in  the  Catacombs  and  along  the  brilliant 
business  boulevards.     One  day  Margaret  was  able  to 


TWO  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE.  323 

give  to  Versailles,  and  part  of  another  to  St.  Denis. 

Every  evening  she  was  excessively  weary  ;  too  weary 
to  go  to  operas  or  theatres  or  other  places  of  worldly 
amusement,  even  if  she  had  had  any  taste  for  such 
dissipation,  and  had  entertained  the  judgment  that  it 
was  proper  for  a  professed  Christian. 

Yet  the  thought  I  may  never  reach  India  to  do 
mission  work  there,  sent  her  forth  several  times  in  the 
evening,  both  in  London  and  Paris,  in  company  with 
some  elderly  lady,  to  strive,  as  she  had  often  striven 
upon  the  streets  of  Chicago,  to  persuade  young 
women  to  abandon  a  life  of  shame.  One  jewel  thus 
she  thought  she  gathered  for  her  heavenly  crown 
upon  Oxford  street,  and  another  upon  the  Boulevard 
des  Italien.  At  least  she  tried,  as  many  more  of  her 
sex  should  try  during  the  early  hours  of  night,  and 
God  and  angels  blessed  her. 

It  did  not  require  much  effort  and  time  for  Margaret 
to  learn,  what  few  American  travellers  learn  upon 
their  merely  secular  tours  through  Great  Britain  and 
Europe,  that  there  are  multitudes  of  beautiful  and 
efficient  charities  in  operation,  far  more  of  them  in 
England  than  in  the  United  States,  and  that  the 
evangelizing  enterprise  which  reaches  forth  from  the 
British  Isles  and  from  Germany  and  Holland  into  all 
parts  of  the  globe,  is  far  more  extensive  yet  than  that 
which  characterizes  the  Christian  life  in  the  great 
Republic  of  the  New  World. 

The  Tuilleries  were  still  in  their  glory,  and  the 
Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  with  his  Empress  Eugenie, 
yet  shone  as  the  central  lights  in  the  political  and 


324  SELF-GIVING. 

social  firmament.  Once  Margaret  saw  them  accom- 
panied by  the  Prince  Imperial,  driving  in  a  gorgeous 
carriage  across  the  Place  de  la  Concorde.  They  did 
not  look  happy  to  her,  and  all  their  power  and  wealth 
and  glory  would  not  have  tempted  her  to  give  up  her 
commission  as  a  simple  missionary  to  the  Hindu 
heathen  of  Northern  India. 

Margaret  saw  that  over  everything  in  France 
rested  the  shadow  of  coming  events.  Every  paper 
she  read  and  every  conversation  she  had,  indicated 
that  great  restlessness  and  uncertainty  which  filled 
the  interval  between  Sadowa  and  Sedan. 

"  Ah !  glad  am  I,"  she  wrote,  one  evening,  to  her 
anxiously  waiting  friend  Cleora,  "  thrice  glad  that  I 
work  for  a  kingdom  which  hath  foundations  ;  that 
I  am  hastening  to  the  front  of  a  battle  about  whose 
issue  there  can  be  no  uncertainty,  and  that  we  know 
the  glories  which  surround  the  brow  of  our  Emman- 
uel are  real,  tarnished  by  no  wrong,  and  only  bright- 
ened by  advancing  time." 

The  pension  where  Margaret  boarded,  in  Lucerne, 
was  upon  the  high  ground  near  the  Three  Lindens. 
The  view,  both  for  beauty  and  for  grandeur,  sur- 
passed any  of  the  kind  she  had  even  seen  or  conceived, 
and  she  felt  that  she  received  an  inspiration  that 
would  last  for  many  years,  amid  the  dreary  monotony 
of  her  life  in  India.  Under  those  venerable  trees  she 
sat  for  hours,  tracing  the  borders  of  the  winding  lake, 
feasting  on  the  charms  of  hill  and  vale,  contrasting 
the  various  growths  from  the  feet  to  the  summits  of 
the   nearer   mountains,  as  luxurious  Rigi   upon  the 


TWO  MONTHS  IN  EUROPE.  325 

left  and  rugged  Pilatus  upon  the  right,  and  beyond 
the  glories  of  Fensterarrhorn  and  of  other  giants  of 
the  Alps  crowned  with  perpetual  snow. 

Three  days  in  Munich  quite  reconciled  her  to  the 
sacrifice  of  Dresden.  She  had  heard  more  of  the  art- 
galleries  in  the  Saxony  capital,  than  of  the  old  and 
the  new  Pinacothek  and  the  Glyptothek  and  the 
National  Museum  of  the  beautiful  Bavarian  metrop- 
olis. In  after  years,  amid  the  terrible  ruins  and 
despair  of  heathenism,  the  cruelties  of  the  Brahmans, 
and  the  degradation  and  shame  of  Indian  womanhood, 
it  was  frequently  an  inspiration  to  recall  that  part  of 
the  angel  rescuing  the  Christians  upon  that  great  and 
terrible  canvas  of  Kaulbach's  Destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, which  is  the  chief  glory  of  the  new  Pinacothek 
in  Munich. 

Not  until  the  following  year  was  to  occur  the  cele- 
brated Passion  Play  at  Ober-Ammergau,  but  prepara- 
tions were  in  progress,  and  daily  the  chief  singers  and 
actors  were  practising  for  the  discharge  of  their 
religious  vow.  Margaret  spent  a  night  at  this  quaint 
little  village  of  the  neighboring  Tyrol  Alps,  and 
found  a  great  deal  that  was  interesting  in  the  habits 
and  customs  of  the  people,  though  she  said  nothing 
about  it  in  her  letters  home,  lest  some  pious  people 
should  feel  that  the  missionary  had  become  too 
worldly,  and  seize  the  occasion  to  decline  cooperation 
in  the  great  work  of  world-evangelization. 

It  was  better  than  all  the  photographs,  though 
there  are  so  many,  and  than  all  the  descriptions  in 
both  prose  and  poetry,  to  stay  only  those  two  days 


326  SELF  GIVING. 

which  Margaret  could  give  to  Venice-  As  noiselessly 
in  her  gondola  she  glided  up  and  down  the  grand 
canal  between  the  Rial  to  and  San  Marco,  or  gazed 
forth  from  the  summit  of  the  Campanile,  or  strolled 
through  the  Doge's  Palace  and  St.  Marks,  or  studied 
Venetian  life  upon  the  great  Piazza,  the  humble 
missionary  could  not  help  the  honest  thought,  that 
the  universal  law  of  compensation  comes  to  the  cheer 
even  of  the  missionary  whose  sacrifices  are  so  many 
and  so  great  for  Christ.  Few,  she  reflected,  in  the 
common  ranks  of  the  home  ministry  and  laity  ever 
enjoy  the  foreign  missionaries'  opportunity  of  exten- 
sive travel. 

"  I  have  been  to  England,"  she  wrote  to  her  father, 
"  and  to  France,  and  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  and 
now  I  am  in  beautiful  Italy,  simply  because  I  am  a 
missionary.  And  when  in  far-off  India  sometimes  I 
think  of  my  sacrifices  and  self-denials,  I  hope  I  may 
have  wisdom  and  grace  enough  to  give  due  credit  to 
these  and  other  compensations  which  a  kindly  Provi- 
dence has  arranged." 

Rome  crowded  her  almost  beyond  her  strength. 
She  could  not  see  everything  of  interest;  only  the 
principal  objects.  Most  of  her  time  was  spent  among 
the  art-treasures  of  the  Vatican.  After  St.  Peter's 
and  the  Lateran  she  did  not  really  care  much  to  see 
more  than  two  or  three  other  churches.  To  several 
of  the  palaces  and  villas  she  drove,  staying  long  enough 
only  to  go  directly  to  the  rooms  containing  the  chief 
art-treasures,  glancing  earnestly,  studiously,  and  then 
hastening  on  to  other  famous  aesthetic  shrines.     And 


TWO  MONTHS  IN  EUROl'E.  327 

it  is  probable  that  she  realized  more  benefit  from 
many  of  these  brief  visits,  than  if  she  had  had  leisure  to 
devote  a  whole  day  to  each  gallery  of  painting  or  of 
statuary,  identifying  with  guide-bonk  every  object, 
and  becoming  quite  thoroughly  bewildered  amid  a 
chaos  of  innumerable  impressions. 

Margaret  often  said  that  "  Five  days  in  Rome 
could  be  made  more  profitable  by  discrimination  and 
persistent  singleness  of  purpose,  than  the  three  to 
eight  weeks  as  usually  spent  by  omnivorous  tourists." 

Both  in  entering  and  in  leaving  the  "  Eternal  City  " 
Miss  Kilburne  had  difficulties  which  were  soon  to 
pass  away.  It  was  a  few  months  before  Victor  Em- 
manuel overthrew  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope. 
Pius  the  Ninth,  whom  Margaret  once  saw  taking  his 
snuff  in  a  corridor  of  the  Vatican,  had  lately  uttered 
the  blasphemy  of  his  infallibility,  and  the  indignation 
of  God  was  almost  ready  to  descend  upon  his  guilty 
head.  Only  for  a  few  months  more  could  the  Pontiff, 
within  even  the  limited  circle  of  the  States  of  the 
Church,  play  however  harmlessly  at  his  old  and  for- 
merly terrible  game  of  the  Inquisition.  At  the  custom 
house  Margaret's  baggage  was  searched  for  any 
Protestant  literature,  and  her  Bible  was  confiscated. 
From  a  chapel  of  St.  Peter's  she  was  roughly  thrust 
forth  because  she  would  not  kneel  at  the  elevation  of 
the  host.  And  her  farewell  from  the  principality  of 
the  Vice-gerent  of  Christ  was  an  insult  from  a  sensual 
and  intoxicated  priest,  which  compelled  her  to  change 
at  the  next  station  to  another  compartment  of  the 
car. 


32S  SELF-GIVING. 

From  Naples  Margaret  was  to  sail  for  Alexandria. 
There  was  bat  a  day  for  a  drive  through  the  large 
and  beautifully  situated  cit}^,  a  run  out  to  Pompeii, 
and  a  climb  of  Mount  Vesuvius  at  sunset.  As  she 
lingered  on  the  edge  of  the  burning  crater,  she 
thought  her  own  situation  in  life  well  symbolized, 
but  yet  never  even  in  America  had  }<onder  sunlight 
bathed  the  prospect  more  beautifully  and  gloriously. 


CHAPTER    XXXIL 


THE   MEETING   IN    CALCUTTA. 


IMMEDIATELY  upon  telegraphic  notice  that 
the  u  British  India  steamship  ?1  Elderado  had 
passed  Madras  en  route  from  Liverpool  to  Calcutta, 
Cleora  Litchfield  took  the  train  for  the  capital,  that 
she  might  be  the  first  to  greet  Margaret  Kilburne 
when  she  landed.  The  hearts  of  both  these  school- 
girl friends  were  full  of  joyful  expectations  of  the  long 
looked-for  meeting,  and  they  felt  quite  as  young 
again  as  in  those  gleeful,  buoyant  years,  when,  hand 
in  hand,  they  strolled  along  the  Newport  cliffs,  or 
roomed  together  at  Yonker's  College. 

When  the  cannon  of  Fort  William  announced  the 
arrival  below  in  the  Hooghly,  Cleora  heard  the  signal 
at  the  American  Mission  Home  where  she  was  enter- 
tained, and  quickly  she  arrayed  herself  in  her  best  to 
drive  to  the  dock.  She  tried  to  make  a  presentable 
appearance  for  Margaret's  sake,  but  the  old  bonnet 
and  dress  were  out  of  fashion,  her  gloves  had  all  been 
spoiled  by  the  damp  weather,  and  as  to  laces  and 
collars,  time  and  the  dhobies  had  quite  exhausted  her 
outfit  supply. 

In  the  distance,  Margaret  saw  a  woman  in  front  of 
320 


330  SELF-GIVING. 

the  "go-down,"  alongside  which  the  Elderado  was 
endeavoring  to  make  a  landing;  but  she  did  not 
recognize  in  her  the  missionary  sister  for  whose  warm 
embrace  she  was  impatiently  longing.  Cleora  she 
had  never  seen  but  in  the  height  of  fashion  ;  and  then 
that  slightly  stooping  form  and  those  drawn  features 
were  totally  unfamiliar.  The  complexion  had  been 
darkened  by  the  climate,  and  but  little  remained  to 
tell  of  those  luxurious  tresses  of  golden  hair  which 
had  been  the  object  of  so  much  admiration  and  envy. 

Cleora  was  the  first  to  recognize.  The  handker- 
chiefs of  both  then  immediately  did  service,  partly 
in  waving  greetings  and  partly  with  the  eyes.  In  the 
strong  current  of  the  Hooghly  it  took  a  fall  half 
hour  for  the  steamship  to  work  up  within  speaking 
distance. 

Meanwhile  the  attention  of  the  two  missionaries 
was  somewhat  diverted  by  an  interesting  and  touch- 
ing scene  between  an  English  merchant,  upon  the 
dock,  whom  Cleora  had  met,  and  his  daughter,  upon 
the  steamer's  deck.  It  was  now  five  years  since  he 
had  sent  her  home  to  Derbyshire,  a  young  girl,  to  com- 
plete her  education.  She  was  his  only  child,  and  could 
hardly  remember  her  mother,  who  was  at  rest  in  the 
Cawnpore  cemetery.  Prospered  in  business,  and 
fairly  idolizing  his  daughter,  he  had  indulged  her 
with  every  luxury,  and  now  he  saw  her  for  the  first 
time,  a  beautiful,  accomplished  and  attractive  woman. 

He  had  bowed  to  Mrs.  Litchfield,  but  evidently 
could  not  trust  himself  to  speak  or  even  stand  still. 
Back  and  forth  he  paced,  puffing  away  vigorously 


THE  MEETING  IN  CALCUTTA.  331 

with  his  cigar,  and  glancing  now  and  then  at  that 
slender,  richly-dressed  form  upon  the  quarter-deck, 
that  stood  waving  her  handkerchief  and  throwing 
kisses  at  him. 

"  He  is  my  papa  ;  my  own  dear  papa  ! "  she  ex- 
claimed to  Margaret  by  her  side.  "  He  is  the  best 
man  in  all  the  world  !  What  makes  him  keep  turn- 
ing around  and  looking  the  other  way?  O,  dear, 
I  wish  I  could  fly  !  " 

And  evidently  to  Cleora  he  wished  he  could  too, 
and  he  was  not  quite  successful  in  keeping  his  eyes 
their  natural  color,  and  he  must  have  stopped  to  read 
the  sign  on  that  "  go-down  "  a  score  of  times. 

The  mother  missionary  could  not  help  thinking  of 
the  separations  which  must  come  in  her  own  home- 
circle,  when  especially  her  own  darling  would  have 
to  be  sent  to  America  for  her  education.  And  the 
other  missionary  reflected,  that,  if  the  bliss  of  mother- 
hood was  the  sacrifice  she  had  laid  at  the  Master's 
feet,  she  was  to  be  saved  such  agony  as  the  long 
good-by,  the  intrusting  to  others'  far-off  hands,  and 
the  turfing  of  little  graves. 

At  last  the  gang-plank  was  cast,  and  Cleora  and 
Margaret  were  locked  in  each  other's  arms. 

"  O,  Margaret  dear,  I  want  to  thank  you  with  my 
very  first  words,  for  having  led  my  father  and  mother 
from  the  darkness  into  the  light.  Such  blessed  letters 
they  have  been  writing  me  the  last  two  months  ! 
They  have  told  me  all  about  it,  but  I  am  anxious  to 
hear  it  again  directly  from  your  lips." 

"  You  are  mistaken,  Cleora.     I  did  not  do  anything. 


332  SELF-GIVING. 

It  was  only  my  privilege  to  witness  the  result  of  your 
many  prayers  and  efforts." 

"  But  they  both  say,  that  if  you  had  not  visited  Bos- 
ton they  might  never  have  become  experimentally 
acquainted  with  Christ,  and  thoroughly  enlisted  in 
his  great  mission-work  throughout  the  world." 

"  Well,  we  must  not  commence  quarrelling  about 
the  counting  of  sheaves  the  first  hour  of  our  meeting 
upon  the  missionary  field." 

"No,  indeed,  Margaret;  nor  ever.  Bat  }rou  can 
hardly  believe  how  much  of  it  there  is  among  mission- 
aries ?  " 

"  As  among  home  ministers?  " 

"  Almost  as  much.  The  fact  is,  we  also  are  only 
weak,  broken  vessels  for  the  Master's  use.  Our  piety 
and  consecration  are  fully  equalled  at  home." 

"  Yes  ;  but  I  have  met  some  returned  missionaries 
who  seemed  to  feel  that  their  coming  to  any  commu- 
nity was  the  approach  of  the  millennium." 

Meanwhile,  in  Cleora's  gharry,  they  had  reached 
the  American  Mission  Home,  having  driven  through 
the  Maidan  and  the  Eden  Garden,  past  the  Viceroy's 
palace,  and  a  little  distance  out  the  Chowringee  Road. 
Turning  to  the  left  up  Dhurrumtollah  street,  Margaret 
found  a  greeting  only  second  for  cordiality  to  that 
which  had  already  met  her  at  the  river  bank. 

In  the  able  management  of  this  mission,  both  the 
visitors  were  specially  impressed  with  the  use  made 
of  Eurasian  assistants.  Here  were  several  intelligent, 
earnest,  Christian  women,  toiling  earty  and  late 
every  day  among  the  surrounding  zenanas,  in  many 


THE  MEETING  IN  CALCUTTA.  333 

respects  preeminently  qualified  for  their  evangelizing 
work,  with  features  quite  like  those  of  the  American 
ladies,  only  a  few  shades  darker,  and  including  ever}', 
thing  supported  at  less  than  half  the  cost  to  the  mis- 
sion-treasury. So  pleased  were  Cleora  and  Margaret 
with  the  admirable  working  of  this  feature,  that  they 
determined  to  introduce  it  as  soon  as  practicable 
at  Agra. 

When  they  were  alone  in  their  room  for  the  night, 
Cleora  hastened  to  say  : 

"I  know,  Margaret,  you  must  be  very  tired.  But 
I  am  so  anxious  to  hear  you  tell  all  about  that  blessed 
day,  when  my  parents  really  became  the  children  of 
our  Heavenly  Father.  They  write  me  that  they  both, 
prayed  with  you.  What  did  they  say,  and  how  did 
they  act,  and  which  room  was  it  ?  And  was  it  very 
plain  that  they  finally  came  as  little  children  to  Jesus? 
Oh  !  tell  me  everything  you  can  remember.  I  cannot 
sleep  until  you  do." 

And  she  did.  Cleora  seemed  as  radiant  as  if  she 
were  really  sitting  in  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  the 
Heavenly  Temple.  Through  alternate  smiles  and 
tears  she  listened  to  the  precious  story. 

"And  you  heard  their  first  prayer  for  me  as  a  mis- 
sionary. Thank  God  !  No  more  unreconciled  and 
bitter  feelings.  No  more  angry  wrestling  with  Provi- 
dence. I  am  so  glad  you  were  there  when  the  Voice 
spoke  peace  to  their  troubled  hearts.  It  must  have 
been  a  wonderful  calm,  for  the  billows  had  been  so 
boisterous.  Ah,  me,  of  little  faith,  wherefore  did  I 
doubt  ?  " 


334  SELF-GIVING. 

The  next  day  they  paid  a  visit  to  the  Cathedral, 
partly  to  see  the  statue  of  Bishop  Heber,  and  partly 
to  be  alone  with  each  other,  and  without  interruption 
talk  over  the  way  the  Lord  of  infinite  wisdom  and 
goodness  had  led  them  thus  far  upon  life's  journey. 
'  "  Sometimes,  when  I  think  of  it,"  said  Cleora,  "  I 
want  to  say  nothing  else  than  Wonderful !  Wonder- 
ful!  Wonderful!" 

Sweetly  in  song,  with  only  God  and  the  angels  in 
hearing,  Margaret  responded  : 

When  all  thy  mercies,  O  my  God, 

My  rising  soul  surveys, 
Transported  with  the  view  I'm  lost 

In  wonder,  love,  and  praise. 

"  If  I  had  had  my  way,  how  different  it  would  have 
been,"  remarked  Cleora.  "  I  would  doubtless  have 
been  a  fashionable  butterfly  in  the  aristocratic  society 
of  Boston,  and  finally  thrown  myself  away  upon  some 
man  more  anxious  for  my  father's  money  than  for  me, 
and  therefore  quite  certain  to  make  my  life  wretched 
and  useless  to  the  end." 

4<  And  I,"  said  Margaret,  "  would  probably  have 
gone  upon  the  stage,  or  married  an  infidel  politician. 
You  know  I  wrote  }Tou  about  having  these  opportu- 
nities. But  how  good  God  has  been  to  thwart  such 
purposes,  to  keep  me  out  of  the  sensual  society  of  the 
theatrical  profession,  and  the  life-long  companionship 
of  an  entirely  irreligious,  worldly  man  !  Truly  I  am 
a  brand  plucked  from  the  burning.  A  glorious  sal- 
vation, indeed,  it  is  to  be  saved  from  ourselves,  from 
our  own  plans  and  purposes  in  life !  " 


THE  MEETING  IN  CALCUTTA.  335 

"Yes,"  continued  Cleora  ;  "and  equally  so  after 
we  have  consecrated  ourselves  entirely  to  the  Lord's 
service.  Many  times  I  have  been  impatient  for 
opportunities  which  have  never  come,  rebellious 
against  tasks  which  have  been  assigned  me,  and  dis- 
appointed over  the  immediate  results  of  most  prayer- 
ful, painstaking  and  earnest  efforts.  But  now 
the  over-ruling  hand  of  God  appears,  and  I  see  that 
all  tilings  have  been  working  together  for  my  good." 

"  Indeed,"  responded  Margaret,  "  I  am  very  much 
ashamed  now  to  think  how  rebellious  I  have  been  at 
times  against  Providence,  especially  since  you  left 
America.  Hope  deferred  has  again  and  again  made 
me  almost  ill.  I  have  prayed,  and  striven  to  remove 
obstacles  to  my  coming  here  and  working  with  you, 
but  my  faith  has  sometimes  seemed  to  be  tried  to  the 
very  breaking  point.  Does  God  hear  me?  I  would 
question ;  and  is  there  any  use  of  struggling  longer  ? 
But  now  I  would  rather  have  my  right  arm  cut  off, 
than  have  had  any  other  plan  of  my  life  marked  out  for 
me  during  the  last  tAvo  years,  than  this  one  which  so 
evidently  God's  finger  has  traced,  his  eyes  have 
watched,  his  breath  has  hallowed." 

"  Let  us  sing  together,"  said  Cleora,  "  those  words 
of  the  blind  poetess,  Fanny  Crosby,  which  were 
among  our  favorites  at  school.  They  mean  a  great 
deal  more  to  us  now.     O,  so  much  more  ! 

Safe  in  the  arras  of  Jesus, 

Safe  from  corroding  care, 
Safe  from  the  world's  temptations, 

Sin  cannot  harm  me  there. 


336  SELF-GIYIKG. 

Free  from  the  blight  of  sorrow, 

Free  from  my  doubts  and  fears  ; 
Only  a  few  more  trials, 

Only  a  few  more  tears. 

■m 

Safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus, 

Safe  on  his  gentle  breast, 
There  by  his  love  o'er- Shaded 

Sweetly  my  soul  shall  rest. 

"  God  grant,"  added  Margaret  as  they  turned  to 
leave  the  Cathedral,  "that  we  may  be  ready  to  meet 
the  coming  trials  of  such  professed  faith  in  Jesus  ! 
We  cannot  be  allowed  to  walk  by  sight  as  to-day  very 
long;  it  would  not  be  best." 

Cleora  thought  of  her  husband  and  of  her  child, 
and,  reaching  her  hand  into  that  of  Margaret 
responded  — 

Only  thus  with  Jesus ! 

The  following  morning,  the  day  before  starting  for 
Agra,  the  American  Consul-General  Whiting,  a  faith- 
ful Christian  gentleman  and  warm  friend  of  mis- 
sions, took  Mrs  Litchfield  and  Miss  Kilburne  upon 
an  excursion  to  Serampore.  As  they  were  his  guests, 
he  insisted  upon  a  first-class  railway  carriage,  the  only 
time  these  missionaries  ever  used  one  in  India. 

A  moment  before  the  train  started,  a  telegram  was 
handed  in  through  the  window  to  the  General  by  the 
messenger  of  the  Consulate. 

He  read  it,  and  immediately  placed  it  in  his  pocket, 
remarking  — 


THE  MEETING  IN  CALCUTTA.  337 

"  The  office  is  so  full  of  business,  that  it  is  quite 
likely  to  follow  me." 

They  were  soon  fifteen  miles  up  the  river,  at  the 
well  known  place,  where,  protected  from  the  East 
India  Company  by  the  Danish  flag,  Carey,  Marshman 
and  Ward  toiled  so  gloriously  at  the  foundations  of 
mission-work  in  Asia,  and  where  Henry  Martyn 
kindled  for  a  brief  period  the  bright  flame  of  his  con- 
secration. 

After  a  brief  visit  to  the  College,  the  pagoda,  and 
the  car  of  Juggernaut,  they  drove  to  the  cemetery, 
where  rest  those  three  wearied  forms  which  long 
and  successfully  carried  mountains  of  evangelizing 
responsibility,  and  proved  to  the  Christian  world  how 
nearly  men  can  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Him  who 
came  "not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister." 

They  lingered  beside  the  grave  of  William  Carey. 
The  closing  line  of  his  epitaph  held  their  attention  : 

On  thy  kind  arms  I  fall. 

"  May  those  kind  arms  sustain  you,  Mrs.  Litchfield," 
said  the  General,  "  while  I  read  to  you  the  telegram 
I  received  as  we  were  leaving  Calcutta.  It  was  better 
for  you  to  enjoy  this  day  at  Serampore,  before  the 
breaking  of  sad  news." 

"  Quickly  Margaret's  hand  reached  over  across 
Carey's  grave  and  tightly  clasped  the  hand  of  Cleora, 
while  she  added  : 

"  Remember  —  '  Only  thus  with  Jesus  ! '  " 

"  Is  it  my  husband  —  my  child  ?  " 


338  SELF-GIVING. 

"  No  ;  but  your  father  has  gone  to  heaven.  Mr. 
Litchfield  telegraphs  that  it  had  been  cabled  to  him, 
and  that  he  wanted  me  to  inform  you.'1 

There  was  a  few  moments'  silence,  and  then  Cleora 
looked  upward  through  her  tears  again  at  the 
epitaph,  and  said : 

"  The  arms  of  Redeeming  Love  do  not  let  me  fall. 
His  hand  leads  safely  on  through  clouds  as  well  as 
sunshine." 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

SELF-SUPPORT  AND   HINDU  CASTE. 

IN  a  few  weeks,  full  explanations  were  forwarded  to 
Agra  by  the  executors  of  the  Lyddell  estate. 
It  appeared,  as  is  usually  the  case,  that  the  amount  of 
the  property  was  largely  overestimated.  Mr.  Lyddell 
was  really  a  very  rich  man,  but  not  a  millionnaire. 

One  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  to  be  equally 
divided  between  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  the 
remainder,  estimated  at  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, was  left  half  to  the  widowed  mother  and  half  to 
the  missionary  daughter. 

There  was  a  flaw,  however,  in  the  benevolent  codi- 
cil to  the  will,  which  the  executors  informed  Mrs. 
Litchfield  invalidated  that  portion.  In  designating 
the  societies  to  receive  the  bequests,  sufficient  care 
had  not  been  taken  to  give  their  legal  names.  The 
one  was  called  Mission  Society,  when  it  should  have 
been  Missionary  Society;  and  the  other  was  entitled 
Foreign  instead  of  American  Foreign. 

But  Cleora  was  prompt  to  comply  with  the  sugges- 
tion of  her  mother,  and  sign  a  joint  paper,  directing 
that  the  executors  carry  out  the  evident  purpose  of 
the  will.     What  to  do,  however,  with  her  own  for- 

339 


340  SELF-GIVING. 

tune  was  a  more  difficult  problem.  Upon  this  sub- 
ject Lie  well}-  n  was  quite  reticent,  preferring  that  his 
wife  should  work  out  the  solution  by  herself. 

She  did  not  think  that  it  would  be  wise  to  furnish 
her  house  any  better,  or  to  build  at  their  mission-sta- 
tion a  more  expensive  dwelling,  or  to  take  a  vacation 
in  America  sooner  than  allowed  by  their  society.  A 
few  articles  of  dress  were  very  much  needed  by  her- 
self and  children,  but  then  they  could  be  provided 
out  of  the  salary.  She  might  erect  and  equip  large 
school-buildings,  but  that  would  not  be  consistent 
with  the  plan  upon  which  they  had  been  endeavoring 
to  found  their  educational  work. 

However,  there  was  the  education  of  her  children, 
for  which,  at  least,  no  generous  provision  was  made 
by  the  mission-treasury.  And  then  health  was  liable 
at  any  time  to  break,  and  after  a  year  or  two  at 
home,  if  th.ey  could  not  return  to  their  work,  they 
would  be  expected  to  shift  for  themselves. 

Thus  Cleora  thought,  and  she  prayed  that  she 
might  be  enabled  to  act  in  the  light  of  eternity. 
Finally  she  expressed  her  desires  to  her  husband. 

"  I  feel,  Llewellyn,  that  the  most  important  inter- 
est is  our  mission-work.  It  has  been  moving  forward 
according  to  our  best  judgment,  and  we  have  believed 
that  we  were  guided  by  a  wisdom  from  above.  We 
could  now  act  quite  independently  of  the  executive 
authorities,  but  it  would  be  neither  right  nor  best. 
This  station  does  not  really  belong  to  us,  only  as  we 
are  two  of  thousands  of  Christians  in  America.  And 
it  is  necessary  that  its  missionaries  should  continue 


SELF-SUPPORT  AND  HINDU  CASTE.  341 

to  live  lives  of  great  personal  sacrifice.  A  year  of 
pride,  and  luxury,  and  display  would  threaten  the 
ruin  of  our  work." 

Llewellyn  could  not  longer  resist  the  impulse  of  his 
heart,  but  sprung  to  her  side  and  folded  her  in  his 
arms. 

"  Thank  God  for  such  a  wife  ;  for  such  a  co-laborer 
on  this  mission-field  !  Glorious  will  be  your  crown  of 
rejoicing  in  heaven  !  " 

"  Not  for  that,  not  for  these  heathen,  not  for  you, 
but  above  all,  for  Jesus.  What  will  please  him  ? 
And  I  think  he  will  be  the  best  satisfied  if  I  place 
my  legacy  as  a  trust-fund  in  the  hands  of  our  mission- 
society,  the  interest  to  be  on  call  by  ourselves  and 
children  if  needed,  all  not  drawn  at  the  end  of  each 
year  to  revert  to  the  general  mission  treasury." 

A  kiss  upon  her  forehead,  and  Llewellyn  knelt  by 
her  side  in  prayer. 

It  was  a  prayer  of  thanksgiving.  Both  were  in 
blissful  consciousness  of  the  personal  presence  and 
approving  smile  of  Emmanuel.  Earth  seemed  very 
little  ;  heaven  veiy  near. 

"  Ah,  how  sweet  it  will  be  ! "  exclaimed  Cleora 
upon  rising,  "  when  all  selfishness  has  been  taken  out 
of  our  hearts,  and  Christ  only  is  there  !  " 

And  she  added  in  song : 

O  Love  of  love,  flow  in ! 
This  hateful  root  of  sin 
Pluck  up,  destroy  within  ; 
O  Love  of  love,  flow  in ! 

While  great  care  was  taken  not  to  divert  Margaret's 


342  SELF-GIVING. 

attention  from  the  most  rapid  possible  acquisition  of 
the  language,  she  could  relieve  the  pressure  so  much 
in  many  little  ways,  that  it  was  decided  the  time  had 
come  to  adopt  more  thoroughly  their  plans  of  self- 
support  in  regard  to  their  mission-school  enterprises. 

The  theological  students  were  employed  three  hours 
a  day  in  the  printing  establishment,  and  several  also 
of  the  other  pupils.  But  for  the  increasing  numbers 
of  both  the  boys  and  girls'  schools,  another  indus- 
trial department  was  required.  Especially  when  the 
new  building  for  the  girls'  boarding-school  should  be 
completed,  there  must  be  more  opportunity  for  work. 

After  much  inquiry  and  consideration  it  was 
decided,  notwithstanding  the  protests  and  ridicule  of 
several  other  missionaries,  that  it  was  practicable  to 
establish,  or  rather  to  allow  the  establishment  by 
native  capitalists  upon  a  leased  corner  of  the  mission 
grounds  of  an  Indian  shawl  manufactory.  Seetul 
Das,  Moulvie  and  Company,  the  great  shawl  mer- 
chants of  Delhi,  offered  to  erect  the  building,  to  fur- 
nish it  with  overseers  and  instructors  and  material,  and 
to  give  preference  in  all  employment  to  the  members 
of  the  mission-schools.  The  shrewd  Hindu  firm  reck- 
oned that  there  were  more  than  enough  offsets  to 
the  inexperience  and  broken  time  of  their  employes, 
in  their  greater  intelligence,  their  higher  ambition, 
their  association  with  foreigners,  and  in  the  extensive 
advertising  which  this  new  feature  to  the  business 
would  bring. 

There  is  no  answer  to  all  criticism  like  success. 
The  majority  of  the  girls  learned  very  readily  to  work 


SELF-SUPPORT  AND  HINDU  CASTE.  343 

each  her  own  little  piece,  which  eventually  took  its 
place  in  a  completed  Indian  shawl.  Others  assorted, 
carded  and  spun  the  Cashmere  wool,  and  still  others 
dyed  it  in  the  various  brilliant  colors.  The  results 
were  not  the  most  expensive  shawls,  but  such  as  the 
native  aristocracy  buy  in  large  numbers  for  a  hundred 
dollars  each,  or  which  retail  at  three  times  that  price 
in  Paris,  London  or  New  York. 

Thus  through  the  exercise  of  a  great  deal  of  busi- 
ness enterprise  and  tact  in  the  establishment  of  the 
two  industrial  departments  of  the  mission,  all  the 
schools  were  made  entirely  self-supporting.  The 
parents  and  friends  of  a  third  of  the  day  students  and 
boarders  met  their  expenses,  but  all  the  others  were 
enabled  to  earn  their  own  way.  Not  counting  the 
salaries  of  the  missionaries,  all  other  cost  of  the 
schools  was  covered,  and  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  year 
of  the  mission  Mr.  Litchfield  was  enabled  to  notify 
the  society  that  farther  appropriations  to  the  school 
department  of  the  Agra  mission  were  not  required. 

The  same  mail  which  took  this  welcome  message, 
carried  piteous  appeals  from  one  of  the  other  missions 
for  more  funds  to  support  its  schools.  The  cause  of 
the  difference  was  that  which  makes  the  contrasts 
over  the  whole  business-world  between  success  and 
failure.  The  one  party  could  ;  the  other  could  not. 
The  former  had  ability  to  have  made  a  business 
success  in  New  York  City  ;  the  latter  had  not,  or  at 
least  they  thought  they  had  not,  which  is  practically 
the  same. 

All  this  was  far  from  being  a  labor-saving  arrange- 


344  SELF-GIVING. 

ment  for  the  missionaries.  They  might  have  econo- 
mized many  anxious  hours  of  thought  and  toil,  by 
simply  using  all  the  appropriations  they  could  secure 
from  the  home  society  for  mission  schools,  and  making 
their  most  polite  bows  to  the  commissioner  in  charge 
of  the  government    "  grants-in-aid." 

But  they  were  justified  in  more  ways  than  by  the 
immediate  results.  The  native  church  soon  caught 
the  spirit  of  the  school  enterprise,  and  voluntarily 
assumed  the  entire  support  of  its  pastor.  And  at 
several  of  the  out-stations,  Secundra,  Chitaura, 
Toondla,  Sitala,  Dholepore,  Govardhan,  and  Batesh- 
war,  the  native  Christians  and  their  associates  began 
to  contribute  liberally  toward  the  building  of  chapels 
and  the  maintenance  of  preaching  services. 

Better  still,  there  was  an  evident  improvement  in 
the  character  of  the  converts.  The  people  came  to 
understand  that  this  mission  was  not  a  benevolent 
institution  for  the  distribution  of  charities.  They  saw 
that  to  become  a  Christian  did  not  mean  to  accept 
alms  or  even  wages  of  the  missionaries.  Those  who 
could  be  actuated  only  by  mercenary  motives  were 
more  frequently  kept  away,  and  the  examination  of 
applicants  for  baptism  became  increasingly  satisfac- 
tory. Then,  too,  as  the  months  went  by,  the  converts 
made  perceptible  growth.  They  left  their  childhood 
behind  with  its  dependence  and  improvidence,  and 
became  men  and  women  in  Christ  Jesus. 

On  a  morning  there  were  two  little  ones  in  the  mis- 
sion home.  Twins  ;  and  they  were  named  Judson 
and  Margaret.     Llewellyn  insisted  that  he  would  not 


SELF-SUPPORT  AND  HINDU  CASTE.  345 

inflict  a  Jr.  on  his  son,  but  that  with  girls  it  was  dif- 
ferent, and  so  nothing  could  please  him  more  than,  as 
Cleora  had  had  her  namesake,  Margaret  should  now 
have  hers.  Toward  evening  of  that  same  da}r,  the 
promised  cabinet  organ  for  the  chapel  arrived,  a  gift 
from  a  church  in  Vermont.  It  was  brought  from  the 
railway-station  to  the  dwelling. 

"Now,"  said  the  happy  father,  "we  will  have 
some  music  over  the  new  arrivals.  I  will  play  and 
Miss  Kilburne  will  sing." 

But  after  he  had  unscrewed  the  great  box,  he  found 
the  instrument  all  fallen  apart  wherever  the  pieces 
had  been  joined  by  glue,  or  otherwise  than  by  screws 
and  clamps.  The  donors  had  not  been  prudent 
enough  to  secure  an  organ  adapted  to  ocean  transpor- 
tation, and  to  the  moisture  and  heat  of  India. 

The  great  difficulty  with  the  mission-schools,  as 
also  with  the  church  organizations,  was  that  hydra- 
monster,  which  is  at  all  points  the  chief  hindrance  to 
Christianity  in  India  —  caste.  There  is  caste  in  other 
lands,  but  not  such  caste  as  rules  in  India.  Every- 
where in  human  society  there  are  different  ranks,  yet 
it  is  generally  felt  that  before  the  Deity  and  the  grave, 
all  men  are  equal,  and  Christianity  teaches  the  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  man.  But  the  popularized 
Brahmanism,  called  Hinduism,  esteems  this  the  height 
of  absurdity.     No  idea  could  be  more  abhorrent. 

Said  the  father  of  a  boy  who  was  anxious  to  join 
the  mission-school  : 

"  Would  Litchfield  Sahib  place  birds  and  fish  to- 
gether ?      No  ;  they  are  different  in  kind.      And  my 


346  SELF-GIVING. 

son  is  a  Vaisya,  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Brah- 
mans,  or  with  any  of  the  Sudra-castes. 

"  But  do  you  believe  that  your  caste  sprung  from 
the  thigh  of  Brahma,  the  Brahmans  from  his  mouth, 
the  Kshatriyas  from  his  arm  and  the  Sudras  from  his 
feet?" 

"No;  though  there  must  be  some  ground,  some 
reality  to  this  universal  belief  among  us  Hindus.  I 
think  I  have  come  to  believe  in  creation  as  you  do, 
but  I  cannot  give  up  our  caste-feeling." 

"  Which  is  the  most  important  with  you,  caste  or 
religious  belief?  " 

"  O,  caste  indeed.  ~VVe  do  not  care  what  ^people 
think  and  feel,  if  they  will  only  observe  the  rules  of 
society,  and  all  remain  in  their  own  places  through 
life." 

"  Is  not  caste  then  really  your  religion,  your  god  ?  " 

"  Yes.  It  would  be  right  to  say  so.  You  are  very 
clear-sighted.  The  natural  distinctions  among  men 
and  their  preservation  fill  all  our  thoughts  for  this  life 
and  the  beyond.  You  missionaries  may  have  all  our 
idols,  if  you  will  not  interfere  with  our  caste-system." 

But  Llewellyn,  Cleora  and  Margaret  were  firm  in 
allowing  no  compromise  in  church  or  school.  By  this 
stand  the}r  lost  much,  but  they  gained  more  ;  and  the 
progress  they  made  was  intelligent,  intelligible  and 
solid. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

miss  kilburne's  mission  work. 

IT  was  not  to  enter  upon  any  new  evangelistic  enter- 
prise that  Margaret  came  to  Agra.  She  had  no 
idea  that  her  grand  mission  was  to  show  how  limited 
the  sphere  of  men's  labors  in  heathen  lands,  and  what 
useless  impediments  are  the  married  women  mission- 
aries. While  in  America,  of  late  years,  she  had  had 
much  to  do  with  the  home  department  of  the  great 
work,  yet  her  constant  aim  and  endeavor  had  been  to 
preserve  a  true  womanly  attitude,  to  press  forward  in 
her  own  legitimate  sphere,  and  thus  in  an  auxiliary 
and  supplementary  way  to  accomplish  the  best 
results.  So  when  Margaret  entered  upon  her  life  in 
India,  it  was  with  no  unseemly  violence  to  the  beau- 
tiful and  inestimable  instinct  of  womanhood  ;  no  dis- 
position to  undervalue  the  services  of  those  whose 
hearts  had  become  one  in  life's  toil,  and  no  intention 
to  do  otherwise  than  to  help  on  and  fill  out  the  work 
of  those  who  had  gone  before  her. 

u  There,  you  see,  Llewellyn,  it  is  just  as  I  told 
you,"  observed  Cleora  one  evening  after  Miss  Kil- 
burne  had  retired  to  her  room ;  "  our  Margaret  is  to 
be  a  help  and  no  hindrance." 

347 


348  SELF-GIVING. 

"  It  does  seem  so,  Cleora.  But  I  have  been  afraid 
all  along  that  yOu  over-estimated  your  friend's 
good  sense  and  womanly  grace." 

"  You  thought  she  might  be  another  Belle  Harold 
of  Delhi." 

"  O,  no  ;  for  I  knew  she  had  outgrown  '  sweet 
sixteen,'  and  would  not  be  likely  to  indulge  in  any 
smirking  and  whimpering  around  our  station.  I 
expected  a  mature  woman,  but  dreaded  lest  she  prove 
masculine  and  opinionative  and  headstrong,  as  Miss 
Griffis  of  Benares." 

"  She  is  making  wonderful  progress  in  the  language, 
and,  though  beginning  to  be  able  to  communicate 
freely  with  the  natives,  preserves  the  same  humble, 
deferential  ambition  to  help  us  both  right  on  in  the 
work  begun." 

"  Surely  it  is  very  beautiful,  Cleora.  Coming 
under  the  auspices  of  another  society,  she  has  special 
temptation  to  ignore  the  various  foundations  we  have 
been  trying  to  lay,  and  to  strike  out  very  independ- 
ently and  pompously.  In  her  reports  home  she  can. 
not  make  it  sound  very  grandly,  that  she  is  doing  aux- 
iliary and  supplementary  service  in  connection  with 
our  station.     Yet  this  is  evidently  her  purpose." 

"  Beautiful,  indeed ,  but  have  not  we  a  duty  to  see 
that  she  does  not  carry  this  too  far?  " 

"  Yes,  darling ;  as  also  to  avoid  the  temptation  of 
glorifying  our  work  with  her  labors.  I  think  we 
should  arrange  to  transfer  the  girls'  school  to  her 
charge,  so  that  Margaret's  supporters  may  feel  that 
this  at  least  belongs  specially  to  them." 


MISS  EILBURNE'S  MISSION  WORK.  349 

And  so  it  was  arranged.  With  a  pleasant  little 
speech,  Cleora  before  the  assembled  school  resigned 
the  snperintendency  to  Margaret,  promising  to  be  a 
frequent  visitor,  and  holding  out  the  hope  of  now 
seeing  the  clay  students  more  often  in  their  own 
homes. 

When  this  transfer,  so  amicable,  so  pleasant, 
became  known  to  the  other  two  mission  stations  in 
Agra,  a  controversy  immediately  closed,  which  had 
been  going  on  for  more  than  a  year,  as  to  which  soci- 
ety a  certain  prominent  out-station  belonged. 

As  most  of  the  teaching  in  the  girls'  school  con- 
tinued to  be  done  by  the  natives,  it  was  thought  wise 
for  Margaret  to  relieve  Cleora  of  the  care  of  the 
Bible  women's  class.  Already  ten  Christian  women, 
unencumbered  with  domestic  cares,  had  become 
qualified  to  go  with  Mrs.  Litchfield  or  by  themselves, 
two  by  two,  among  the  native  homes  of  Agra  and 
vicinity,  reading  and  explaining  God's  word.  To 
seperintend  this  little  force  with  daily  directions  and 
counsel,  and  to  follow  up  personally  special  cases  as 
brought  by  them  to  her  attention,  seemed  to  Cleora 
all  the  responsibility  in  that  department  which  she 
could  continue  safely  to  carry,  So  the  other  ten, 
who  needed  from  six  months  to  a  year's  farther  prepa- 
ration to  become  useful  Bible  women,  were  transferred 
to  Margaret's  instruction. 

The  need  of  a  medical  department  and  of  a  hospi- 
tal had  become  more  and  more  apparent,  as  the  con- 
verts and  adherents  of  the  mission  increased  in  num- 
bers.    Mr  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  had  been  compelled  to 


350  SELF-GIVING. 

give  ranch  attention  to  the  sick,  and  through  such 
ministrations  had  reached  many  homes  and  hearts 
with  the  gospel  message.  But  calls  were  becoming 
so  numerous,  and  so  scattered  over  inaccessible  dis- 
tances, and  the  facilities  for  caring  for  any  upon  the 
mission-premises  were  so  poor,  that  it  became  very 
evident  to  the  missionaries  that  their  station  should 
have  a  well  furnished  medical  department. 

But  previous  to  Margaret's  coming,  and  for  more 
than  a  year  after,  the  difficulties  seemed  insurmount- 
able. Particularly  Mr.  Litchfield's  Society,  though 
supporting  a  few  medical  missionaries,  was  not  yet 
hearty  in  establishing  and  sustaining  dispensaries  and 
hospitals.  It  unduly  magnified  their  cost,  and  under- 
estimated their  value.  They  could  not  furnish 
statistics  of  evangelizing  results  so  well  in  hand,  as 
other  departments  of  mission  work. 

On  the  contrary,  the  Society  which  supported  Miss 
Kilburne  was  specially  interested  in  medical  missions. 
It  was  felt  to  be  so  Christ-like  to  heal  bodies,  in  order 
to  secure  opportunities  for  the  healing  of  souls.  But 
the  resources  were  not  yet  equal  to  more  than  pro- 
viding her  with  a  few  hundred  dollars  outfit  of 
medicines  and  surgical  instruments,  in  addition  to 
those  which  had  been  given  her  in  Boston. 

Although  Cleora  was  able  now  from  her  own  prop- 
erty to  erect  and  equip  a  hospital,  and  even  to  engage 
the  services  of  a  male  physician,  she  hesitated  long, 
even  in  the  presence  of  the  rapidly  increasing  demand, 
to  step  forward  in  advance  of  the  judgment  of  the 
Society's  executive  officers.      With  her  husband  and 


MISS  EILBURNE'S  MJSSION  WORK.  351 

Margaret  she  held  frequent  and  anxious  conferences 
upon  the  subject,  and  between  the  necessity  daily  before 
them  and  "the  stupidity  " — they  could  not  help  but 
call  it  sometimes  —  of  the  Rooms,  Cleora  was  almost  on 
the  point  of  sacrificing  a  cherished  principle,  and  of 
having  her  own  way  despite  the  executive  officers, 
when  the  providence  of  Gocl  signally  interposed  to 
solve  the  difficulty  of  the  situation. 

Immediately  adjoining  the  mission-compound  was 
an  estate  belonging  to  the  Maharajah  of  Vizianagram. 
There  were  five  acres  of  land  within  the  high  stone 
wall  enclosure,  well  covered  with  trees  and  choice 
garden  foliage.  In  the  centre  was  one  of  his  score  of 
palaces,  a  two-story  building,  seventy  feet  square,  of 
brick  and  stone,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a 
broad  veranda.  Along  the  rear  of  the  grounds  was  a 
row  of  eight  well  constructed,  ordinary  native  dwell- 
ings, for  the  use  of  the  servants  of  his  Highness,  when 
he  might  visit  Agra,  as  he  did  once  or  twice  a  year. 

On  this  Maharajah's  third  visit  after  Margaret 
began  her  missionary  life,  she  was  surprised  one 
morning  to  see  him,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Litchfield, 
walking  into  her  school-room.  He  had  observed  the 
enterprise  of  those  "foreign  religion  people, :'  had 
heard  of  the  printing  and  shawl  industries,  and 
had  met  some  of  the  intelligent  students  passing  his 
grounds  to  and  from  the  city,  and  so  his  curiosity  had 
led  him  to  saunter  into  the  compound  that  morning  all 
alone,  and  to  ask  the  missionary  to  show  him  around. 

Cleora  did  not  see  his  Highness  except  through  a 
crack  in  the  door,  and  he  did  not  care  particularly  to 


352  SELF-GIVING. 

meet  Margaret,  for  she  was  only  a  woman.  But  he 
expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  latter's  school,  and  there 
was  no  other  way  than  for  him  to  extend  to  her  a  little 
civility,  which  he  did  at  first  very  awkwardly  and 
reluctantly. 

But  for  the  cause  it  was  probably  the  opportunity 
of  a  life  time,  and  with  a  silent  prayer  in  her  heart  for 
wisdom  and  tact,  Margaret  immediately  put  forth 
every  effort  to  enlist  the  Maharajah's  interest  in 
her  work. 

The  history  of  his  family  had  been  gone  over  in  con- 
nection with  his  visit  to  Agra,  and  it  delighted  him 
to  hear  the  class  examined  on  that  subject. 

Several  of  the  more  popular  native  tunes,  to  which 
Cleora  had  adapted  Christian  hymns,  were  sung, 
and  the  weird,  plaintive  melodies  charmed  him  as  no 
foreign  music  could  have  done. 

He  was  asked  himself  to  examine  them  in  geog- 
raphy and  arithmetic,  and  all  his  questions  were 
correctly  and  promptly  answered,  and  by  girls. 

"  This  is  really  wonderful!" — exclaimed  the 
Maharajah.  "  We  would  think  more  of  our  women 
if  their  heads  were  not  so  empty.  But  you  seem  to 
be  able  to  fill  them.  I  feel  very  grateful  for  such 
service.  May  I  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  all  you 
missionaries  at  my  table  this  evening?  " 

The  invitation  was  of  course  equal  to  a  command, 
and  at  a  feast  prepared  in  the  best  French  style,  with  all 
the  accessories  the  Agra  English  hotel  could  furnish, 
the  three  were  seated  with  their  princely  host. 

It  required  all  the  tact  possible  on  the  part  of  tho 


MISS  KILBURNHS  MISSION  WORK.  353 

missionaries  to  keep  the  conversation  going  outside 
of  religious  and  other  prohibited  subjects. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  evening,  with  a  boldness 
that  almost  made  Margaret  faint,  as  in  an  instant  she 
realized  what  she  was  saying,  she  remarked  : 

"  O,  your  Highness,  I  wish  I  was  rich  enough  to 
buy  from  you  this  building  and  its  grounds  for  hospi- 
tal and  school  purposes  !  " 

"  It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  have  money,"  he 
replied  instantly,  "  I  give  them  to  you." 

And  as  the  three  missionaries  sat  there  for  a  moment 
in  speechless  astonishment,  the  Maharajah  continued 
with  a  hearty  laugh  — 

"  O,  yes ;  I  mean  it.  I  will  have  my  treasurer 
make  out  the  papers  for  you  to-morrow.  I  am  not  a 
Christian.  But  you  are  doing  much  good,  and  I 
am  glad  to  help  you." 

In  a  few  days  Margaret  was  in  possession,  with  the 
property  deeded  to  her  Society,  in  trust  for  hospital 
and  school  purposes,  with  several  sick  people  on  her 
hands,  her  class  of  Bible  women  meeting  her  two 
hours  every  morning  in  that  same  dining-room,  and 
the  rear  dwellings  filling  up  with  native  Christian 
families  which  she  encouraged  to  come  from  the 
wretched  out-lying  villages  for  terms  of  from  one  to 
three  months,  that  she  might  give  them  lessons  in 
domestic  life,  teaching  them  how  to  be  more  cleanly 
in  their  habits  and  to  secure  with  their  meagre 
resources  far  more  comfort  and   pleasure. 

While  Miss  Kilburne  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield, 
who  frequently  assisted   her,  soon  realized  that  the 


354  SELF-GIVING. 

medical  department  had  outgrown  them,  and  urged 
the  appointment  of  a  thoroughly  educated  male  phy- 
sician, they  kept  on  doing  as  well  as  they  could, 
occasionally  calling  in  an  army  surgeon,  but  being 
compelled  at  times  to  decide  themselves  in  very  criti- 
cal cases,  and  even  to  use  the  knife  in  amputations 
and  other  surgical  operations. 

For  the  girls'  school  Margaret  found  a  second 
Eurasian  assistant,  and  under  circumstances,  though 
very  distressing,  by  no  means  uncommon  among  this 
large  and  rapidly  increasing  class  of  India's  popula- 
tion. Her  mother  had  been  a  nautch-girl,  and  her 
father  a  captain  in  the  British  army.  Abandoned  by 
him,  mother  and  daughter  struggled  on,  the  former  to 
save  her  child  from  a  life  of  shame,  and  the  latter  to 
cultivate  her  gifts,  which  were  more  than  Indian  and 
less  than  English.  As  the  young  Eurasian  grew  up 
to  womanhood,  she  felt  herself  above  native  society 
and  was  repelled  from  all  familiar  intercourse  with 
the  foreign  community.  To  live  and  work  with  the 
Hindus  was  utterly  distasteful  to  her,  and  every 
social  door  was  shut  against  her  wherever  she  sought 
honorable  treatment  at  the  hands  of  those  whose  com- 
plexion was  only  a  little  lighter  than  her  own. 

As  early  one  evening  Margaret  and  her  first  assist- 
ant teacher  were  strolling  along  the  bank  of  the  Jumna 
a  little  above  the  Taj,  an  empty  boat  came  floating 
past  them,  and  grounded  a  few  feet  below.  At  the 
same  moment,  a  few  rods  up  the  river  and  nearly 
in  the  centre,  they  saw  a  woman  struggling  in  the 
water.      Neither      Margaret     nor     her     companion, 


MISS  KILBURNE'S  MISSION  WORK.  355 

Almorah,  were  strangers  to  the  oar,  and  in  a  few 
moments  they  reached  with  the  boat  the  drowning 
one,  or  rather  where  but  a  moment  before  she  had 
disappeared. 

Again,  however,  not  far  off,  the  body  rose  to  the 
surface,  and  with  great  difficulty  and  danger  they 
drew  the  unconscious  form  into  the  boat,  and  hastened 
to  the  shore,  if  possible  to  revive  her. 

Margaret  knew  exactly  what  to  do  in  the  emer- 
gency, and  had  soon  the  gratification  of  seeing  this 
young  Eurasian  woman  gasp  for  breath,  and  presently 
open  her  eyes  and  move  her  lips. 

"  O,  why  did  jou  save  me  !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  Did  you  want  to  die  ?  "   replied  Margaret. 

"  Yes.  But  the  sand-bag  slipped  from  my  neck. 
I  will  tie  it  tighter  the  next  time." 

"  Dear  friend,  we  will  take  you  with  us,  and  try 
and  make  life  sweeter  to  you." 

"  Impossible.  I  know  it.  There  is  no  place  for  me 
in  this  world  among  the  pure  and  good." 

But  Margaret  and  Almorah  did  find  a  place  for  poor, 
discouraged  Goolab,  or  Miriam,  as  she  asked  after- 
wards to  be  called.  And  her  services  as  second 
assistant  in  the  girls'  school,  not  only  relieved  her  of 
all  suicidal  intent,  but  also  saved  the  missionary  ladies 
much  time  and  effort,  which  elsewhere  could  be  used 
to  greater  advantage. 

Among  the  many  homes  which  Margaret's  hospital 
work  opened  to  her  Christian  influence,  was  that 
of  Baboo  Kliiyali.  His  wife  was  lying  very  low,  and 
he  came  himself  for  the  "  lady-doctor." 


356  SELF-GIVING. 

Margaret  returned  with  him,  taking  along  a  Bible- 
woman  as  escort.  She  found  the  sufferer  within  her 
power  to  help,  but  it  was  necessary  to  remain  all 
night. 

"  I  will  make  everything  comfortable  for  you,"  said 
the  anxious  husband.  And  an  hour  later  Margaret 
found  he  had  provided  in  the  adjoining  room  all  that 
he  thought  was  necessary  for  the  happiness  of  a 
foreigner. 

There  were  several  kinds  of  the  choicest  wines,  a  bot- 
tle of  brandy,  and  meat  and  milk  which  he  would  no 
more  have  tasted  than  poison.  All  had  been  ordered 
from  the  hotel  to  feast  the  "  foreign  devil  "  whose 
famous  "  witchcraft "  was  to  save  the  life  of  his 
wife. 

Her  declining  to  taste  even  any  of  his  intoxicating 
drink  was  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  surprises  in  the 
missionary's  intercourse  with  that  family,  which  con- 
tinued very  intimate  for  several  weeks. 

One  afternoon,  Margaret  found  her  fully  recovered 
patient  in  a  state  of  great  excitement. 

"  O,  mem-sahib  !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  what  shall  I  do 
to-day  ?  It  is  the  great  festival  day  of  all  the  year  to 
Vishnu,  when  every  Hindu  must  make  offerings. 
But  I  believe  as  you  do.  It  is  all  wrong.  Yet 
my  husband  will  compel  me,  or  divorce  me  if  I 
refuse." 

The  Baboo  was  at  that  moment  passing  through  the 
court,  and  it  flashed  through  Margaret's  mind  to  ask 
him,  after  all  she  had  done  for  his  wife,  to  allow  her 
to  neglect  that  day  the  heathen  rites. 


MISS  KILBURNE'S  MISSION  WORK.  357 

"Certainly,"  said  he,  "and  I  am  glad  she  is  so  sen- 
sible. I  am  not  going  to  observe  the  day  myself,  but 
I  was  afraid  to  tell  her  so  lest  she  should  make 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  about  it." 

"  Perhaps,"  added  Margaret,  "  there  is  more  you 
should  tell  each  other." 

"  Well ;  I  would  like  to  know  if  my  wife  is  going 
to  be  a  Christian." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence,  while  Margaret 
prayed  to  Him  who  alone  could  hear,  that  strength 
be  given  to  the  new  convert. 

44  Yes,  Baboo  Khiyali ;  yes,  though  you  kill  me  !  " 

"  Kill  you  ?  I  was  afraid  3^011  would  poison  me,  or 
I  would  have  told  you  weeks  ago  that  I  no  longer 
worship  idols,  but  only  the  Christian's  God.  I  have 
been  reading  the  Christian  Bible,  and  it  is  true." 

The  women  could  only  answer  him  for  some 
moments  with  tears  of  joy,  while  he,  nervously  pacing 
the  room,  added : 

"  It  will  go  hard  with  us,  Amroha.  But  we  must 
be  brave.  The  Christian's  God  says  he  will  be  with 
us  to  the  end." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

NATIVE    PREACHERS    AND     ERRATIC    MISSIONARIES. 

PRACTICE  for  those  in  study,  and  study  for  those 
in  practice,  was  Mr.  Litchfield's  motto  for  all  his 
native  preachers.  Those  in  his  theological  school,  who 
had  been  under  instruction  for  at  least  six  months,  were 
sent  out  ever}?-  Saturday  evening  or  Sunday  morning 
to  the  village-stations,  and  expected  at  the  latest  by 
Monday  afternoon,  to  report  upon  the  various  relig- 
ious services  they  had  held.  It  was  always  an  ex- 
ceedingly profitable  occasion,  when,  assembled  with 
the  missionary,  they  each  related  for  his  approbation 
or  kindly  criticism  what  they  had  said  and  done,  and 
explained  for  his  counsel  the  difficulties  and  perplex- 
ities that  had  arisen. 

Then,  when  pastors  were  settled  over  the  native 
churches,  Mr.  Litchfield  adopted  the  plan  of  having 
them  all  spend  two  weeks  at  the  close  of  each 
quarter  of  the  year  at  the  central  station,  analyzing 
those  portions  of  Scripture  that  had  been  assigned  for 
their  three  months'  study,  reporting  and  receiving 
advice  as  to  difficult  questions  that  had  arisen  in  their 
different  fields  of  labor,  and  listening  to  introductory 
addresses  and  commentary  upon   such  parts  of  the 

358 


2?A  TIVE  PRE  A  CIIERS.  359 

Bible  as  should  be  their  special  study  for  the  en- 
suing quarter. 

For  several  years,  however,  the  latter  part  of  this 
delightful  plan  .would  not  probably  have  been 
enjoyed,  but  for  the  fortunate  visit  of  the  senior  secre- 
tary for  a  week  on  his  tour  around  the  world  of 
Christian  missions.  Doctor  Hartwell  was  pleased  with 
Mr.  Litchfield's  caution  and  conservatism,  but  felt 
that  he  was  unduly  withholding  pastoral  responsibility 
from  his  more  advanced  native  preachers.  Under 
this  opportune  counsel  the  missionary  acted,  without 
ever  having  any  occasion  for  regret.  God  honored 
the  added  trust  in  his  ability  to  use  the  imperfect 
instrumentalities  he  had  chosen. 

At  one  time  Mr.  Litchfield  was  tempted  to  travel 
outside  the  legitimate  sphere  of  his  instruction  in 
training  native  preachers.  Two  of  his  theological 
class  had  visited  a  government-college,  and  they  were 
restless  for  less  of  the  Bible  and  more  of  science.  The 
missionary  was  anxious  not  to  lose  them,  and  he  gave 
several  months'  instruction  in  algebra  and  geometry, 
chemistry  and  mechanics,  history  and  English. 

On  examination-day,  several  of  the  British  army- 
officers  came  over  from  the  fort  at  the  missionary's 
request,  as  he  was  quite  confident  that  he  could  make 
as  fine  a  display  of  scientific  attainments  with  his 
class  as  they  had  witnessed  in  any  other  school  in 
India. 

But  when  Colonel  Cunningham  in  a  few  enthusiastic 
words  announced  at  the  close  that  he  would  give  a 
commission  to  every  one  of  these  scholars  if  they  would 


360  SELF-GIVING. 

join  the  army,  Mr.  Litchfield  saw  his  mistake,  and 
returned  to  a  course  of  almost  exclusive  Bible- 
instruction  for  his  theological  class.  The  demand 
for  native  preachers  of  very  moderate  attainments 
outside  of  thorough  Sunday-school  training,  as  it 
might  be  described,  was  so  great,  the  missionary 
came  to  realize  that  he  must  resist  the  temptation  of 
the  secular  sciences,  as  also  avoid  the  risk  of  losing  his 
pupils  among  the  ranks  of  the  army  and  civil  service. 

He  had  but  little  difficulty  with  the  salaries  of  his 
natives  preachers,  at  least  in  fixing  their  amounts, 
until,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  conversion  of  a  very 
prominent  and  learned  Brahman,  the  committee 
at  home  learning  that  he  desired  to  be  a  preacher, 
voted  him  the  same  salary  as  the  missionary.  The 
native  was  wise  enough  to  see  that  he  should  not 
receive  all  of  it,  but  even  what  he  was  willing  to  take 
embarrassed  Mr.  Litchfield's  arrangements  with  sev- 
eral of  the  other  preachers.  It  was  very  plainly  a 
mistake  not  to  leave  this  to  the  missionary. 

"I  am  glad  he  has  gone  at  last !  "  exclaimed  Llewel- 
lyn, as  he  returned  one  evening  from  seeing  Rev.  Mr. 
Bond  and  wife  off  at  the  railway-station  for  Bareilly. 

"  I  only  wish  their  work  henceforth  was  to  be  as 
far  off  from  ours  as  Peshawur  or  Cape  Comorin," 
replied  Cleora. 

"  If  it  could  be  right,"  added  Margaret,  who  had 
lingered  since  the  parting  with  the  missionaries,  "  I 
would  have  Mrs.  Bond  left  here  to  join  me  in  my 
work,  for  she  is  a  most  amiable  and  capable  woman, 
and  him  recalled  to  America." 


NA  TIVE  PR EA  CIJERS.  361 

These  whose  assignment  to  the  new  station  to  the 
North,  with  sub-station  at  Nainee  Tal,  had  finally 
been  arranged  after  a  year's  correspondence  with  the 
Rooms,  had  been  sent  to  India  on  account  of  the 
earnest  solicitations  of  the  junior  secretary,  who  was  a 
personal  friend,  and  prejudiced  in  favor  of  Mr.  Bond. 
The  executive  committee  had  not  taken  sufficient 
pains  to  examine  his  antecedents.  He  had  been  a 
pastor  of  several  churches  in  Kansas,  skipping  from 
one  to  another  with  remarkable  celerity,  and  evidenc- 
ing an  unusual  deficiency  in  good  judgment,  tact  and 
amiability. 

It  is  one  of  the  m}'steries  of  Providence  that  such 
a  crooked  stick,  "  too  crooked  to  lie  still,"  should 
ever  be  permitted  to  locate  in  the  foreign  field.  It 
was  very  ludicrous  to  hear  him  finding  so  much 
fault  with  the  language,  scolding  his  teacher,  denying 
the  accuracy  of  his  dictionary,  and  insisting  upon  the 
idiocy  of  the  grammar.  He  did  not  treat  the  natives 
with  any  suavity,  or  even  with  ordinary  politeness, 
and  the  missionaries  he  had  been  sent  to  help  he 
was  constantly  hindering  with  his  obtuseness  and 
obstinacy. 

But  now  he  was  gone.  O,  how  glad  they  were  ; 
for  though  they  were  overwhelmed  with  work,  and 
painfully  anxious  for  assistance,  they  could  do  far 
better  without  that.  kind.  And  when  a  few  weeks 
after  the  native  preacher,  who  accompanied  the 
burdensome  reinforcement  to  his  new  station 
to  Agra  discouraged  and  thoroughly  out  of  patience, 
they  were  not  surprised. 


362  SELF-GIVING. 

Help  must  be  had,  however,  at  Agra,  and  a  Rev. 
Mr.  Fowler  and  wife,  accompanied  by  a  Miss  Tulip, 
were  sent  on  from  Boston.  But  in  six  months  the 
latter  was  married  to  an  English  merchant  of  Allaha- 
bad. Both  the  others  seemed  perfectly  mated  in 
indolence,  sensitiveness,  extravagance,  and  in  disposi- 
tion to  do  anything  else  than  their  own  legitimate 
work. 

Mr.  Fowler  made  very  slow  progress  in  learning 
Hindi,  partly  from  having  unfortunately  adopted  the 
theory  that  the  language  would  come  to  him  in  due 
time  from  intercourse  with  the  natives,  and  ^partly 
from  spending  half  his  working-time  in  writing  letters 
to  very  much  too  large  a  list  of  home  correspondents. 
Two  or  three  of  his  first  contributions  to  the  Society's 
magazine  were  cut  down,  and  one  was  rejected,  and  a 
number  of  his  immature  plans  for  "  bringing  up  the 
Agra  mission  into  real  efficiency  "  failed  of  approval, 
and  therefore  he  seemed  to  feel  it  necessary  to  keep 
parading  his  grievances  before  the  scores  of  prominent 
ministers  and  laymen  at  home. 

At  about  this  time  an  ageiit  of  one  of  the  Bible 
societies  located  in  Agra,  and  began  indiscriminately 
giving  to  the  natives  cheap  copies  of  various  portions 
of  Scripture.  In  vain  the  other  missionaries  urged 
discrimination  and  the  need  of  accompanying  God's 
word  with  the  living  voice.  In  vain  they  promised  to 
arrange  the  work  for  their  native  preachers  so  that 
the  utmost  possible  of  wise,  evangelistic  colportage 
might  be  done  under  his  supervision  in  Agra,  and  in 
many  scores  of  the  surrounding  villages. 


NATIVE  PREACHERS.  303 

"  There,  Cleora,  I  have  made  my  first  purchase  of 
tobacco  to-day  in  the  bazaar,"  announced  Llewellyn, 
as  returning  from  a  street-preaching  service  one  after- 
noon he  laid  a  little  bundle  upon  the  centre  table. 

"  What,  you  going  to  learn  to  smoke  !  " 

"No,  indeed;  but  see  what  is  wrapped  around  that 
cheroot,  and  what  is  the  outside  of  those  cigaretts." 

44  Why  !  They  are  leaves  from  the  Bible.  What 
a  shame  !  " 

44  Yes ;  and  it  comes  from  Mr.  Harvey's  indiscrimi- 
nate Bible-work.  He  gives  to  anybody  who  will 
take,  no  matter  for  what  purpose.  I  do  not  believe 
his  Society  would  justify  him  in  such  recklessness. 
He  has  probably  had  some  special  donation,  which 
he  is  throwing  heedlessly  and  worse  than  uselessly 
away.  I  am  going  to  take  my  purchase  to  him  this 
evening,  for  perhaps  this  is  an  argument  he  will  con- 
sider." 

On  a  summer  evening  of  1873,  an  hour  after  the 
three  children  had  retired,  Cleora  and  Margaret  were 
interrupted  in  their  preparation  of  the  next  month's 
Sunday-school  paper  by  a  call.  An  English  lady,  a 
total  stranger,  had  driven  directly  from  the  station  to 
the  mission  home,  and  meeting  Mr.  Litchfield  upon 
the  veranda,  requested  the  opportunity  of  immediately 
seeing  his  wife. 

"  My  name  is  Mrs.  Sampson,  of  Bristol,  England," 
the  new-comer  announced  to  the  surprised  ladies,  and 
to  Mr.  Litchfield,  who  half  suspected  that  they  were 
greeting  an  escaped  lunatic. 

14 1  have  come  here  to  work  with  }tou  as  a  mission- 


364  SELF-GIVING. 

ary,"  she  continued.  "I  have  property  and  will  pay 
more  than  my  own  expenses.  I  am  sure  that  God 
has  sent  me  here,  and  that  he  will  bless  my  stay  in 
Agra." 

"Have  you  an}'  credentials?  "  asked  Mr.  Litchfield. 

"  None  whatever.  I  do  not  wish  any.  I  simply 
have  faith  in  God.  He  prepares  the  way  before  me, 
and  I  stay  or  go.  It  is  all  the  same.  O,  friends,  I 
hope  you  may  know  what  is  this  perfect  rest  of 
faith  !  " 

"  We  know  that  it  is  not  such  a  stupid  lullaby  at 
least,"  thought  Llewellyn  to  himself;  and  he  added 
aloud  : 

"  I  would  not  unnecessarily  hurt  the  feelings  of 
this  stranger  lady.  But  we  have  important  interests 
here  to  guard,  interests  which  rise  above  all  personal 
considerations;  and  I  cannot  advise  cooperating  with 
any  missionary  who  comes  without  a  certificate  of 
church  membership  and  without  a  commission  from 
some  recognized  evangelical  society." 

But  his  wife  and  Margaret  were  otherwise  inclined. 
Though  they  acknowledged  him  right  upon  general 
principles,  they  felt  that  this  was  an  exceptional  case. 
The  necessity  could  hardly  be  greater  for  the  help  of 
some  woman-missionary,  and  of  one  who  would  not 
probably  marry  off  upon  the  first  call  of  any  lonely 
gentleman.  Then  here  was  a  lady  who  asked  for 
nothing  but  opportunity  to  work  ;  no  salary,  and  even 
pay  her  own  board.  She  was  also  ready  to  hand  them 
fifty  pounds  sterling,  earnest  money  in  advance. 
Then,  notwithstanding  the  informality  of  the  intro- 


NATIVE  PREACHERS.  365 

duction,  Mrs.  Sampson  had  such  a  sweet  face,  and 
was  so  fluent  in  pious  words,  and  could  quote  Script- 
ure so  readily,  Mr  Litchfield's  advice  was  unheeded, 
and  Margaret  invited  the  new-comer  to  a  room  in 
the  hospital. 

But  it  proved  a  calamity.  The  missionary  weekly 
prayer  meeting  was  spoiled  by  Mrs.  Sampson's  per- 
fectionist egotism.  As  the  Eurasian  converts  could 
speak  English,  she  first  poisoned  their  minds  with 
doubt  as  to  the  true  piety  of  the  other  missionaries' 
lives.  Then,  as  she  began  to  communicate  in  Hindi, 
she  was  free  to  declare  that  all  the  converts  were 
little  better  than  heathen,  and  that  Christ  was  not 
being  taught  in  all  his  fulness  and  power. 

When  at  last  Margaret  and  Cleora  were  undeceived, 
and  kindly  but  decidedly  told  Mrs.  Sampson  that  she 
must  go,  she  did  not  go  alone.  With  ready  funds, 
she  hired  a  bungalow  across  the  road,  and  drew  after 
her  the  principal  of  the  girls'  school,  several  of  the 
convalescents  of  the  hospital,  six  families  of  the 
church,  and  even  two  of  Mr.  Litchfield's  theological 
class. 

Her  farewell  assurance  to  the  missionaries  was  — 
"I  know  the  blessed  Lord  has  enabled  me  to  do  more 
good  in  Agra  than  you  all.  I  feel  it ;  and  there  can 
be  no  question  about  it." 

Thrown  out  among  the  heathen,  and  almost 
excluded  henceforth  from  power  of  mischief-making 
amonsf  the  adherents  of  all  the  Asfra  mission-stations, 
the  new  "  faith-mission  "  dwindled  into  almost  nothing 
in  the  course  of  a  year,  when  suddenly  Mrs.  Sampson 


366  SELF-GIVING. 

"  felt "  called  to  assist  the  missionaries  in  the  old  city 
of  Pegu,  Burmah;  and  she  went.  No  question  again 
of  her  duty. 

Not  long  after  this  came  another  pestilence  to  the 
mission  work  in  Agra,  though  fortunately  it  spent 
itself  chiefly  among  the  adherents  of  one  of  the  other 
stations.  The  wife  of  the  missionary  in  charge  went 
crazy  over  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  She  had 
figured  it  up  carefully,  and  was  sure  that  the  advent 
was  to  be  at  a  certain  midnight.  "  Figures  will  not 
lie." 

Over  twenty  converts,  mostly  women,  three  of  them 
from  Mr.  Litchfield's  flock,  were  thoroughly  carried 
away  with  the  delusion.  They  dropped  all  practical 
religious  duties,  neglected  their  families,  became 
angry  with  every  one  who  did  not  fall  in  with  their 
monomania,  and  spent  their  time  practising  songs 
they  were  soon  to  use  among  the  angels,  and  prepar- 
ing their  white  robes  in  which  they  were  to  be  caught 
up  into  the  air  to  meet  their  Lord. 

It  was  one  of  the  strangest  sights  that  had  ever 
been  witnessed  in  Agra  —  at  that  midnight  hour. 
All  the  missionaries  were  at  their  homes  save  the 
deluded  leader,  glad  that  the  crisis  of  the  imposition 
had  come,  yet  sorrowful  over  so  much  diversion  of 
attention  and  so  much  inevitable  disrepute  brought 
upon  the  Christian  religion. 

Solemnly  the  white-robed  procession,  with  palms 
in  their  hands,  surrounded  by  thousands  of  amused 
and  hooting  natives,  marched  along  the  streets  in  the 
direction  of  the  Taj.     On  reaching  the  marble  terrace 


NATIVE  PBEACUEES.  367 

of  the  vast  mausoleum,  the  expectant  company  sepa- 
rated into  four  sections,  one  for  each  of  the  lofty  cor- 
ner minarets.  There,  many  feet  above  the  laughing 
crowd,  which  was  being  assured  by  scores  of  accom- 
panying Brahmans  that  this  was  Christianity,  the 
waiting  spectres  stood  silently  gazing  up  into  the  sky. 
But  twelve  o'clock  came  and  passed.  The  whistle 
of  the  one  o'clock  train  from  Delhi,  to  which  hundreds 
below  called  their  attention,  discouraged  even  the 
missionary  leader,  and  she  gave  the  signal  for  retreat. 

Her  explanation  was,  that  she  had  been  permitted 
by  the  Lord  to  make  a  mistake  of  one  year,  be- 
cause she  had  not  anticipated  the  high  honor  in 
store  for  her  as  the  bride  of  Emmanuel,  and  conse- 
quently had  not  prepared  herself  by  separation  from 
her  earthly  husband.  At  once  she  left  him,  and  was 
found  a  few  days  after  a  raving  maniac,  nearly 
starved  to  death,  in  a  neighboring  jungle. 

Little  had  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  and  Miss  Kil- 
burne  anticipated  that  as  their  station  became  more 
prosperous  and  conspicuous,  so  many  erratic  mission- 
aries would  afflict  them.  But  still  they  came.  The 
next  was  a  merely  passing  meteor,  who  could  stop 
only  a  few  days  to  let  the  Christians  in  Agra  know 
how  to  convert  the  world  in  ten  years.  Then  fol- 
lowed two  young  men  from  England,  extreme  ritual- 
ists, who  fitted  up  a  small  chapel  and  sought  to  dis- 
pel the  vast  heathen  darkness  of  India  by  burning 
daily  several  pounds  of  candles. 

Afterward  came  a  good  brother  and  sister,  who 
were  sure  that  the  heathen  millions  could  be  much 


368  SELF-GIVING. 

more  quickly  evangelized  if  only  the  missionaries 
would  dress  and  live  as  the  natives.  So  they 
wrapped  scanty  bits  of  cloth  around  their  hips  and 
shoulders,  ate  with  their  fingers,  dwelt  in  huts 
besmeared  within  and  without  with  cow-dung,  and 
prayed  for  the  millennium. 

One  cadaverous  bachelor-missionary  rode  around  in 
Agra  a  few  months  the  hobby  of  no  betelnut- 
chewing  or  tobacco-smoking  for  Christians.  His  prin- 
ciple was  right,  yet  urged  so  imprudently  and  blindly 
and  to  such  extremity  as  to  be  wrong  and  harmful. 

Then  there  was  a  missionary  from  Scotland  who 
nearly  starved  his  family  upon  the  theory  that  it  is 
wrong  to  accept  any  support  except  what  God  fur- 
nishes on  the  field.  And  a  London  lay-brother  tried 
to  carry  his  light  among  the  natives  by  working 
with  them  at  their  wages  in  the  fields,  but  he  had 
soon  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital. 

Sometimes  under  these  added  embarrassments, 
Llewellyn,  Cleora  and  Margaret  suffered  almost  a 
paralysis  of  faith. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

IN   CONFLICT   WITH   "THE   EOOMS." 

EVEN  among  the  best  of  people,  controlled  by 
the  best  intentions,  difficulties  will  sometimes 
arise.  The  points  of  view  are  different,  and  in  this 
world  the  clearest  vision  is  liable  to  a  great  variety 
of  disturbing  influences.  Missionaries  and  the  execu- 
tive officers  of  mission-societies  are  no  exception. 
Indeed,  separated  by  thousands  of  miles  of  sea 
and  land,  amid  the  greatest  contrasts  of  society 
and  climate,  it  would  be  expected  that  their  clash- 
ings  of  judgment  will  be  the  more  frequent.  At  least 
it  is  very  absurdly  unreasonable  for  an}r  to  withhold 
sympathy  and  cooperation  from  the  cause  of  missions 
because  of  information  that  some  executive  officer  or 
missionary  has  made  a  mistake  or  even  committed 
a  grievous  wrong. 

During  the  larger  part  of  1874,  the  senior  secretary 
of  Mr.  Litchfield's  society  was  absent  upon  a  pros- 
pecting tour  in  Africa.  On  the  junior  secretary,  there- 
fore, devolved,  in  this  interval,  the  entire  responsibility 
of  foreign  correspondence.  Already  burdened,  he  was 
unable  to  fully  discharge  the  added  duties.  Many  of 
the  more  lengthy   letters  from  the  missionaries  could 

369 


370  SELF-GIVING. 

receive  only  a  hasty  glance,  and  often  his  replies  had 
to  be  very  brief,  even  to  the  appearance  of  harshness 
and  want  of  sympathy.  The  usual  tact  in  the  man- 
agement of  this  department  was  not  shown,  and 
serious  embarrassments  multiplied  in  every  direction. 

Upon  the  other  hand,  in  India,  the  seasons  were 
unusually  trying.  Particularly  in  the  vicinity  of 
Agra  there  had  been  a  great  lack  of  rain,  and  an 
excess  of  heat,  and  dust,  and  malaria.  The  cares  of 
the  missionaries  continued  to  multiply.  Mrs.  Litch- 
field's children  were  requiring  more  of  the  mother's 
time.  The  eldest  was  very  frail,  and  the  fond  parents 
felt  that  she  was  not  to  be  long  with  them.  The  help 
they  had  received  in  the  new  missionary  family  had 
not  been  helpful.  And  there  had  lately  been  an 
unusual  number  from  among  the  converts  who  had 
fallen  back  either  into  their  old  heathen  practices  or 
into  comparative  indifference. 

Thus  both  the  situations,  in  Boston  and  in  Agra, 
furnished  favorable  conditions  for  clashings  of  judg- 
ment and  unpleasant  feelings.  As  between  Margaret 
and  her  Society,  though  in  part  for  other  reasons, 
the  relations  were  equally  strained. 

Mr.  Litchfield  finally  took  the  ground  that  Mr. 
Fowler  must  go.  He  could  not  longer  endure  cooper- 
ation with  one  who  gave  so  little  of  his  time  to  his 
legitimate  work,  and  by  his  excessive  and  desultory 
correspondence  created  so  much  trouble  at  home. 
Secretary  King  simply  replied  that  it  was  not  con- 
sidered wise  at  the  Rooms  to  make  the  change 
requested.     The  point-blank  refusal,  without  a  word 


IN  CONFLICT  WITH  "  THE  ROOMS."  371 

of  explanation,  was  very  exasperating,  or  at  least  was 
allowed  to  be  ;  and  it  actually  required  all  Mrs.  Litch- 
field's soothing  and  persuasive  powers  to  keep  her 
husband  from  forwarding  his  resignation. 

For  nearly  two  3-ears  now  Mr.  Litchfield  had  had 
every  Sunday  an  extra  preaching-service  in  Hindus- 
tani. The  number  of  Moslems  in  regular  attendance 
had  increased  from  five  to  over  fifty.  Ten  had  given 
evidence  of  conversion,  and  two  were  receiving 
private  instruction  with  view  to  the  Gospel  ministry. 
Surely,  he  thought,  the  time  had  come  for  his  Society 
to  enter  vigorously  upon  the  prosecution  of  evangeli- 
zation among  the  fifty  millions  of  Mahometans  in 
India.  And  lie  urged  the  Rooms  to  send  at  once  a 
missionary  to  commence  the  study  of  Hindustani. 
But  there  was  no  answer  at  all  to  his  application,  and 
finally  he  threatened  to  communicate  with  another 
Society  upon  the  subject.  The  threat  also  failed  to 
receive  any  notice. 

Cleora  wrote  at  length  upon  the  situation,  hoping, 
with  the  special  influence  she  commanded  with  the 
executive  officers  as  the  trustees  of  her  property,  to 
secure  favorable  consideration  for  her  husband's  pro- 
posals. Months  passed  without  any  reply,  and  then 
she  was  surprised  to  receive  a  letter  from  one  of  the 
members  of  the  committee,  a  personal  friend,  chiding 
her  a  little  for  having  suspended  correspondence  so 
long. 

"  It  is  an  outrage  for  the  secretary  to  suppress  my 
letters !  Probably  he  has  served  yours  the  same  way, 
Llewellyn ! " 


372  SELF-GIVING. 

"  I  presume  lie  is  all  engrossed  with  wire-pulling 
for  his  reelection  at  the  next  anniversary,"  was  her 
husband's  hasty  and  uncharitable  reply. 

"Yes,"  was  Cleora's  equally  peevish  rejoinder;  "he 
knows  that  as  a  matter  of  principle,  we  are  not 
stirring  up  any  trouble  among  the  ministry  and 
churches  against  him,  so  he  thinks  he  ijeed  not  give 
himself  any  worry  in  our  direction." 

In  November  a  young  lady  missionary  from  their 
Society  called  at  Agra  on  her  way  to  Bareilly,  to 
which  station  she  was  appointed.  All  were  very 
favorably  impressed  with  her  intelligence,  piety, 
amiability,  and  general  capacity  for  effective  work, 
and  wanted  her  to  remain  with  them. 

"  Unquestionably  her  duty  is  here,"  wrote  Cleora 
to  the  Rooms.  "We  must  take  the  responsibility 
of  detaining  her  from  a  place  where  her  services 
are  not  one  quarter  as  necessary,  and  where  appeals 
for  help,  judged  upon  their  own  merits,  cannot 
possibly  have  been  as  deserving  as  ours." 

"  That  is  very  sharp,  wife,"  observed  Llewellyn 
npon  the  letter.  "But  you  are  right:  applications 
are  not  always  judged  upon  their  merits,  but  to  please 
some  prominent  minister  or  church,  or  to  feather  the 
nest  of  some  high-salaried  official.  Fowler,  with  his 
blunclerbus  of  hateful  correspondence,  can  bag  a  great 
deal  more  game  than  you  or  I  in  the  tangled  jungles 
of  secretaryship  favor." 

"  What  insolence  !  "  observed  the  secretary  to  his 
clerk,  as  he  filed  this  letter  among  a  hundred  others 
received  that  day,  and  simply  dictated  a  note  to  Miss 


IN  CONFLICT  WITH  "  THE  ROOMS."  373 

Rivington,  reminding  her  that  her  salary  did  not 
begin  until  she  had  reached  her  own  appointed  field 
of  labor  in  Bareilly. 

The  following  Monday  morning  there  was  no 
quorum  of  the  executive  committee  until  fifteen 
minutes  before  the  usual  time  for  adjournment.  The 
secretary  had  more  than  a  score  of  important  matters 
to  present,  but  there  was  no  time,  not  even  to  correct 
any  hasty  judgments  and  plans  he  ma}r  have  formed 
amid  his  pressing  and  bewildering  details  of  business. 

"  Brethren,  cannot  you  give  me  an  hour,  or  even 
half  an  hour  extra  to-day  ?  I  do  need  your  advice  as 
to  matters  in  India,  and  in  France,  and  in  South 
America." 

"  Sorry ;  but  I  have  to  attend  a  wedding  this 
hour,"  replied  a  reverend  doctor  as  he  reached  for 
his  silk  hat  and  began  to  brush  it  for  departure. 

"  Very  unfortunate,  but  my  wife  has  invited  some 
friends  to  dine  with  us  this  noon,"  observed  another 
as  he  glided  out  the  door. 

"  It  seems  to  me  hardly  necessary,"  added  another 
guardian  of  a  great  denomination's  world-wide  mis- 
sion interests.  "  Our  secretaiy  understands  the  situ- 
ation at  every  station  much  better  than  we  can,  and 
we  have  every  confidence  in  him." 

"  I  fully  endorse  the  last  remark,"  joined  in  a 
prominent  layman,  "  and  it  is  quite  time  that  we 
arrange  the  nominating  committee  for  the  next  anni- 
versary." 

No  more  left  the  committee-room,  and  the  moments 
slipped   rapidly   away  until    the    clock   struck    one. 


374  SELF-GIVING. 

But  it  was  all  arranged  who  should  write  to  whom, 
that  everything  should  be  understood,  and  especially 
that  no  such  calamity  might  befall  the  cause  as  the 
failure  of  the  junior  secretary  to  secure  a  reelection. 

It  is  surely  to  be  hoped  that  such  trifling  on  the 
part  of  the  executive  officers  of  mission  societies,  with 
their  vast  responsibilities  before  God,  is  exceptional. 
Certain  it  is  that  upon  inquiry  the  following  day,  the 
secretary  of  the  American  Foreign  Mission  Society 
learned  that  the  committee  meetings  of  that  week  for 
the  other  two  great  Societies,  whose  headquarters 
are  in  Boston,  had  been  fully,  promptty  and  faith- 
fully attended.  All  the  members  of  the  Prudential 
Committee  of  the  American  Board,  and  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  the  Missionary  Union,  were 
in  their  places,  profoundly  conscious  of  their  obli- 
gations, and  determined  that  nothing  should  interfere 
with  all  necessary  deliberations. 

Margaret's  conflict  with  her  Society's  Rooms  in  New 
York  was  as  to  the  salaries  to  be  paid  her  assistant 
Eurasian  teachers  and  Bible-women,  and  as  to  whether 
she  should  credit  the  home  treasury  with  the  fees 
she  received  from  time  to  time  for  doctoring  wealthy 
natives.  The  women'  s  Board  felt  that  if  the  Eura- 
sians did  the  same  work  as  a  missionary,  they  should 
receive  the  same  pay,  while  Margaret  contended  that 
this  was  unnecessary  and  unwise  generosity  with  mis- 
sion-money, and  that  the  salaries  should  be  nearer 
what  the  same  persons  could  earn  in  any  other 
honest  employment  in  India.  And  as  to  the  inci- 
dental earnings  of  her  own  medical  practice,  which  was 


IN  CONFLICT  WITH  "  THE  ROOMS."  375 

always  subservient  to  the  interests  of  the  mission,  she 
claimed  she  should  no  more  be  asked  to  render 
account  than  the  gentlemen-secretaries  for  the  moneys 
they  received  from  time  to  time  for  supplying 
churches. 

The  unhappy  year  had  closed.  The  Agra  New 
Year's  greetings  had  been  more  of  a  mere  formality 
than  real  sunshine.  The  conflict  with  the  Rooms 
had  seemed  to  cast  a  shadow  over  everything.  The 
children  noticed  that  their  parents  were  different, 
and  they  played  more  by  themselves.  The  native 
converts  felt  that  they  wTere  not  quite  so  free  of  access 
to  the  missionaries.  There  was  a  perceptible  falling- 
off  in  the  attendance  at  the  chapel.  At  the  schools 
the  numbers  did  not  increase.  Never  before  had  Mr. 
Litchfield  appeared  so  haggard,  nor  Cleora  so  discour- 
aged ;  and  Margaret  seemed  to  have  grown  five  years 
older  in  this  one  year  of  discord  and  estrangement. 

But  one  afternoon  in  February,  the  following  let- 
ter arrived  from  the  senior  secretary,  Doctor  Hart- 
well  : 

My  very  dear  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield:  — 

On  return  a  few  days  ago  from  my  long  absence  in  Africa,  I 
learned  of  some  misunderstanding  between  you  and  the  Rooms. 
With  earnest  prayer  for  wisdom  to  help  solve  all  difficulty,  for  the 
sake  of  all  the  precious  interests  concerned,  I  have  read  carefully 
all  your  letters,  and  reread  them  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  Com- 
mittee. I  assure  you  the  spirit  of  the  brethren  is  all  that  you 
could  desire,  and  while  there  remains  difference  of  opinion,  there 
is  readiness,  yes,  anxiety  to  join  you  in  finding  the  golden 
mean  of  Christ-like  compromise,  If  we  assign  a  missionary  to 
your  Moslem  work,  can  you  not  drop  some  of  your  critical  feel- 
ings toward  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fowler,  and,  entering  into  more  cordial 


376  SELF-GIVING. 

relations,  make  them  of  service  to  the  mission?  As  it  is  not  well 
to  establish  the  precedent  of  one  station  stopping  a  missionary 
assigned  to  another,  you  had  better  allow  Miss  Rivington  to  go  on 
to  Bareilly,  and  if  she  requests  in  a  few  months  to  return  to  Agra, 
we  will  promise  her  permission.  And  though  Miss  Kilburne  is  not 
directly  under  our  supervision,  yet  I  beg  through  you  to  suggest 
that,  in  the  same  spirit  of  compromise,  she  consent  to  report  her 
receipts  to  the  treasury,  with  the  understanding  that  she  be 
allowed  to  arrange  the  scale  of  wages  for  all  her  assistants. 

Never  was  compliance  with  suggestions  made  more 
readily.  This  letter  was  the  sunshine  that  pierced 
the  clouds  and  drove  them  awaj^.  In  the  presence  of 
a  spirit,  so  evidently  the  Divine  Master's  own  spirit, 
they  felt  it  a  blessed  privilege  to  submit  the  measure 
of  their  own  will  requested. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

VACATION  IN  BUEMAH  AND    SOUTHEKN    INDIA. 

AS  the  cooler  season  advanced  toward  the  close  of 
1875,  and  the  best  working  part  of  the  year 
was  at  hand,  it  was  with  very  great  reluctance  that 
Mr.  Litchfield  came  to  acknowledge  the  feeble  state 
of  his  health.  He  bravely  tried  to  persuade  himself 
that  his  weakness  and  paleness  and  loss  of  appetite 
were  only  the  temporary  result  of  the  exceptionally 
hot  weather  lately  experienced,  and  with  still  greater 
heroism  his  wife  endeavored  in  every  way  to  lessen 
his  loads  and  to  look  hopefully  to  the  reviving  effect 
of  the  coming  months. 

But  the  need  of  a  few  weeks'  vacation  before 
further  work  was  inevitable,  and  upon  only  three 
days'  notice,  Mr.  Litchfield  was  off  for  a  voyage 
across  the  Bay  of  Bengal  to  Burmah,  and  thence 
to  Southern  India. 

He  was  much  more  contented  to  leave  his  varied 
and  great  responsibilities  temporarily  than  he 
could  have  been  the  previous  year,  for  the  new 
attitude  of  cordiality  and  confidence,  and  the  generous 
division  of  labor  had  seemed  to  make  a  new  man  of 
Mr.  Fowler.     The  former  indolence  had  given  place 

377 


373  SELF-GIVING. 

to  intense  activity.  Nearly  all  the  unnecessary  and 
imprudent  correspondence  was  dropped  in  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  new  consecration  and  interest.  And 
there  proved  to  be  a  great  deal  of  latent  tact  and 
effectiveness  where  it  had  been  taken  for  granted 
there  were  only  stupidity  and  inefficiency.  And 
besides,  a  }'onng  brother  Arlington  and  his  wife  had 
joined  the  station,  and  already  made  sufficient  progress 
in  Hindustani  to  assume  the  entire  responsibility  of 
the  work  among  the  Mahometans. 

The  three  days  at  sea  put  so  much  new  life  into  the 
almost  worn-out  missionary,  that  when  he  landed 
at  Rangoon,  he  felt  quite  like  himself  again. 

"  I  believe,"  he  wrote  immediately  to  his  wife, 
"  there  is  a  great  deal  more  of  refreshment  and  life- 
lengthening  power  in  this  Bay  of  Bengal  for  all 
the  missionaries  in  Southern  Asia,  than  many  of  them 
dream." 

He  was  surprised  to  see  Rangoon  so  much  more 
beautifully  situated  than  Calcutta,  reminding  him  at 
once  of  New  York  harbor.  Although  as  yet  but  a 
sixth  the  size  of  the  "  City  of  Palaces,"  the  metropolis 
of  Burmah  seemed  certain  to  prove  at  no  distant  day 
a  formidable  commercial  rival  to  the  Indian  capital. 
When  the  railway  already  completed  to  Prome,  shall 
have  been  extended  to  Bhamo,  and  thence  the  vast 
resources  of  Southwestern  China  shall  be  drawn, 
he  could  see  that  the  pride  of  the  Irrawaddy 
would  ere  long  challenge  comparison  with  either 
Calcutta,    Bomba}',    or   Madras. 

It   was  a  privilege  to  meet  the    missionaries   who 


VA  CA  TION  IN  B  URMAH.  379 

were  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the  immortal 
Judsons  ;  to  see  how  bravely  those  who  were  labor- 
ing among  the  Burmese  were  contending  against 
greater  obstacles  than  those  with  which  he  had 
become  familiar,  at  least  among  the  Hindus ;  and 
to  study  those  peculiarly  interesting  Karen  tribes, 
among  which  the  Gospel  had  received  so  cordial 
a   greeting. 

While  Mr.  Litchfield  lingered  but  a  few  moments 
at  the  great  Shway-Dagon  pagoda,  admiring  its  mag- 
nificent proportions  and  watching  the  Buddhist 
phoungees  making  their  idolatrous  offerings,  he  spent 
several  hours  at  the  Karen  Theological  Seminary,  de- 
lighted at  the  consecration  there  being  made  of  Chris- 
tian learning  and  industry. 

Upon  the  general  subject  of  higher  education  under 
mission  supervision,  it  was  not  encouraging  to  meet 
so  great  variety  of  opinion,  and  so  much  disinclination 
to  hearty,  effective  cooperation.  He  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  the  mission  work  in  Burmah  as 
one,  or  at  the  least  divided  by  only  a  little  more  than 
the  race  distinctions,  the  Burmese,  Karen,  and  Shan 
departments.  But  every  location  seemed  to  be  quite 
independently  set  up  by  itself.  When  Mr.  Litchfield 
remembered  his  own  experience  as  between  his  and 
the  Bareilly  stations,  and  the  alienation  which  had 
existed  up  to  only  a  few  months  before  between  Mr. 
Fowler  and  himself,  he  was  restrained  from  feeling 
very  censorious  toward  the  missionaries  in  Burmah, 
yet  he  could  not  help  wishing  that  the  senior  secre- 
tary of  his  own  society  could  do  a  little  correspond- 


380  SELF- GIVING. 

ing  among  them.  The  melting  into  more  practically 
fraternal  relations,  which  he  and  his  associates  in 
Northern  India  had  experienced,  was  what  he  came  to 
pray  for  most  earnestly  in  behalf  of  his  new  acquaint- 
ances, before  he  re-crossed  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 

Nowhere  had  he  been  more  strongly  impressed  than 
at  Bassein,  that  differences  in  mission  results  are  quite 
as  likely  to  be  accounted  for  by  differences  in  the 
missionaries  themselves,  as  the  variations  in  home 
pastorates  by  the  variations  in  the  native  talent  and 
capacity  of  their  ministry.  Here  he  met  a  first-class 
man  turning  out  first-class  work.  His  wife  also  had 
marked  engineering  ability,  and  things  moved. 
Every  department  of  their  station  showed  enterprise. 
While  many  others  were  thinking  and  writing  about 
the  special  hardships  of  their  fields,  and  praying  above 
all  for  patience  to  wait  upon  God's  favor,  here  were 
two  throwing  themselves  with  tremendous  energy  and 
singleness  of  aim  into  the  work  committed  to  their 
hands.  Their  zeal  and  success  were  not  because  God 
was  more  inclined  to  favor  them  than  others,  or 
because  their  field  was  less  difficult ;  but  the  rea- 
son was  the  same  that  would  have  brought  them 
to  the  front  at  home  ;  it  was  in  them. 

At  Maulmain  Mr.  Litchfield  had  a  delightful  social 
time  among  the  missionaries.  He  could  not  help 
it ;  eleven  women,  and  only  three  men  to  divert 
their  sisterly  attentions.  He  was  perfectly  satisfied 
as  far  as  his  own  enjoyment  was  concerned,  but 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  he  could  not  help  wishing 
that  three,  at  least,  of  these  sisters  were  brothers,  and 


VACATION  IN  BUBMAH.  381 

then  that  half  of  all  of  them  were  in  Upper  Burmah. 
Undoubtedly  the  hands  of  all  were  full  of  work  ;  but 
there  are  other  questions  involved  in  the  highest  wis- 
dom of  mission  enterprise. 

Everywhere  he  felt  prompted  to  speak  upon  the 
subject  of  industrial  departments  in  mission  schools  ; 
but  nearly  at  every  place,  with  the  exception  of  Bas- 
sein,  he  failed  to  awaken  any  special  enthusiasm. 
The  missionaries  to  the  Burmese  were  quite  certain 
that  they  could  not  successfully  inaugurate  anything 
like  his  printing  and  shawl-making  enterprises. 

"  Well,  start  a  laundry,  then,  in  connection  with 
your  school." 

"  Our  girls  would  consider  it  beneath  them." 

"  Yet  they  accept  much  of  their  food  and  clothing 
from  you." 

"  Should  we  insist  on  self-support,  many  would  be 
driven  away  to  the  government  schools." 

"  Perhaps  that  would  be  best  for  them  and  for  you. 
A  small  school,  on  correct  principles,  is  to  be  preferred 
to  a  large  one  fostering  idleness,  and  pride,  and  a  spirit 
of  dependence  upon  others." 

Mr.  Litchfield  spoke  plainly,  for  he  did  feel  that 
there  was  room  in  Burmah  for  some  healthful  re- 
trenchment, without  lessening  the  number  of  mission- 
aries or  their  salaries.  He  had  seen  in  the  reports 
that  one  of  the  largest  American  denominations  was 
spending  one  hundred  and  seventeen  thousand 
dollars  annually,  nearly  half  of  all  it  raised 
for  foreign  missions  upon  this  one  Burmah 
field,  and  was  feeling  unable  to  join  in  the  general 


382  SELF-GIVIXG. 

advance  into  Central  Africa,  or  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  evangelization  among  the  great  Moslem 
populations  of  Asia  ;  and  he  felt  as  if  he  would  like 
to  take  many  of  his  new  acquaintances  back  with  him 
to  Agra,  to  show  them  by  accomplished  facts,  how 
much  more  practicable  than  they  dreamed  was  the 
theory  of  self-support  in  all  native  schools. 

As  Mr.  Litchfield  sailed  for  Madras,  it  was  with 
grateful  feelings  that  his  lot  was  cast  among  Hindus 
instead  of  Buddhists.  Evidently  the  worship  of 
Vishnu  and  Siva  had  not  so  stupefied  the  spiritual 
sensibilities  of  the  populations  of  India  as  had  the 
hypocrisy  of  Siddhartha  the  swarming  millions  of 
Southeastern  Asia.  He  had  felt  that  there  could  be 
nothing  more  repelling  than  the  obscenity  of  a  Hindu 
temple,  but  he  had  learned  his  mistake  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Buddhistic  masquerade  of  the  virtues. 
The  heathenism  of  the  valley  of  the  Ganges  knows 
nothing  of  such  extreme  selfishness  as  flourishes 
along  the  banks  of  the  Irrawaddy,  the  Menarn,  and 
the  Yang-tse-kiang. 

It  was  not  that  the  missionary  was  unable  to  ap- 
preciate the  magnificent  remains' of  Dravidian  archi- 
tecture ;  not  that  he  was  unaware  that  he  was  now 
within  easy  reaching-distance  of  many  wonderful  Jaina 
temples ;  not  that  he  had  never  heard  of  Tanjore  and 
Seringham,  and  Chillambaram  and  Ramisseram,  and 
Madura  and  Tarputry,  that  now  the  few  remaining 
days  of  vacation  were  spent  almost  entirely  among 
the  missionaries  and  their  work :  but  that  he  saw 
vastly  more  beauty  and  glory  in  the  spiritual  temples 


YA  CA  TION  IN  B  UEMAH.  3S3 

that  were  being  reared  among  the  Telugus  and 
Tamils  and  Malayalams  and  Oanarese. 

Time  permitted  Mr.  Litchfield  only  a  single  drive 
along  two  or  three  of  the  principal  streets  of  Madras, 
to  glance  at  Fort  St.  George  whose  guns  range  over 
the  heads  of  a  half-million  of  people,  and  to  note 
the  Herculean  efforts  that  are  being  made  to  con- 
struct a  harbor  far  out  on  this  most  unpromising 
Coromandel  coast.  One  railway  excursion  took  him 
to  Calicut  upon  the  Malabar  coast,  and  another  to 
Bellary  near  the  Toombudra  River. 

He  was  convinced  that  the  missionaries  in  Southern 
India  labor  in  a  much  more  depressing  climate  than 
that  to  which  he  was  accustomed  in  Agra,  bat  that 
on  the  other  hand  their  populations  are  the  more 
accessible  to  evangelization.  Pie  thought  this  was 
in  large  measure  probably  because  they  were  more 
remote  from  those  overpowering  Moslem  influences 
which  had  spread  throughout  the  North,  and  whose 
present  effect  is  to  strengthen  the  hostility  of  all 
against  Christianity. 

The  serious  discount  to  be  made,  according  to  Mr. 
Litchfield's  judgment,  in  the  great  amount  of  educa- 
tional .mission-work  centring  in  Madras,  is  the  large 
expense  which  the  prevailing  plans  throw  upon 
the  home  Christians  in  Scotland  and  England.  The 
mistake  of  Burmah  seemed  greatly  emphasized  here, 
but  he  did  not  say  much  about  it.  He  had  found  of 
late  that  no  people  are  more  sensitive  to  criticism 
than  missionaries,  probably  because  nearly  all  of 
their   life    and    labor  is   unquestionably   better   than 


384  SELF-GIVING. 

that  around  them,  and  they  are  brought  so  little  into 
rubbing-contact  with  their  equals.  When  the  best 
and  wisest  of  people  do  not  get  a  chance  more  than 
once  in  many  months  or  }Tears  to  be  told  that  they 
are  mistaken,  they  are  apt  to  take  criticism  in  very 
high  dudgeon. 

On  return  to  Calcutta,  by  a  steamer  direct  from 
Liverpool,  which  touched  at  Madras,  Mr.  Litchfield 
was  deeply  moved  by  a  passenger's  singing  of  the  new 
lines,  so  full  of  the  humility  and  candor,  that  should 
adorn  the  lives  of  all  Christ's  servants,  at  home  and 
abroad,  in  mission  fields  and  executive  chairs,  as  well 
as  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  the  ministry  and  laity :  — 

The  mistakes  of  my  life  have  been  many, 
The  sins  of  my  heart  have  been  more, 

And  I  scarce  can  see  for  weeping, 
But  I'll  knock  at  the  open  door. 

My  mistakes  His  free  grace  will  cover, 

My  sins  He  will  wash  away, 
And  the  feet  that  shrink  and  falter 

Shall  walk  through  the  gates  of  day. 

I  know  I  am  weak  and  sinful, 
It  comes  to  me  more  and  more  — 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  PKINCE   OF  WALES  IX  AGRA. 

THE  year  following,  1876-77,  was  made  very 
memorable  to  the  mission  by  a  three  clays' 
visit  to  the  city  from  the  heir  of  the  British  Crown. 
The  imperial  policy  of  Disraeli  had  included  the  proc- 
lamation of  Queen  Victoria  as  Empress  of  India,  and 
a  grand  display  of  loyalty  all  over  the  vast  penin- 
sula to  Her  Majesty  as  represented  by  her  eldest  son. 
This  part  of  the  programme  may  have  been  well 
enough,  if  only  it  could  have  satisfied  the  ambition  of 
the  wily  Premier,  and  there  had  been  no  effort  to 
rectify  Indian  and  South  African  boundaries  and  to 
foster  the  virtues  of  Turkey. 

None  were  more  ready  than  the  native  Christians  to 
contribute  to  the  cordiality  and  magnificence  of  the 
greetings  extended  to  the  Prince.  They  vied  with 
even  the  British  soldiers  and  civilians  in  the  erect- 
ing and  ornamenting  of  arches,  in  the  clearing  and 
beautifying  of  the  grounds  which  were  to  bo  occupied 
by  the  royal  encampment,  and  in  cheering  the  repre- 
sentative of  that  Great  Power  which  rules  in  justice 
and  protects  all. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  very  evident  that  the 
385 


386  SELF-GIVING. 

loyalty  of  the  native  Christian  population  was  appre- 
ciated. English  statesmen  have  learned  well  the  les- 
son of  1857.  Previously,  the  missionary  and  his 
adherents  were  at  the  best  merely  tolerated.  They 
were  generally  considered  as  dangerous  elements  in 
society  furnishing  occasions  for  popular  outbreaks,  and 
vastly  increasing  the  difficulty  of  ruling  so  many  sub- 
ject millions.  But  during  that  dreadful  mutiny,  not 
one  native  Christian  proved  a  traitor.  The  mission- 
aries and  their  converts  were  always  found  loyal  to 
the  government,  which  had  done  everything  possible 
to  suppress  them  and  drive  them  away,  yet  whose 
tyranny  was  more  merciful  than  the  cruel  native 
rule.  As  a  military  necessity  now,  if  for  no  higher 
motive,  missions  in  India  receive  cordial,  official  rec- 
ognition upon  all  suitable  occasions. 

One  afternoon  of  those  preparatory  weeks,  as  Mr. 
Litchfield  was  in  the  bazaar  purchasing  some  bunting 
with  which  to  suitably  decorate  the  mission-buildings, 
he  overheard  his  Sunday-school  superintendent  in 
earnest  conversation  with  a  Hindu  merchant  and  a 
prominent  Moslem  banker. 

"  The  Prince  of  the  monkeys  is  bringing  us  good 
business  these  days,"  observed  the  Hindu,  "  and  that 
is  all  I  care  about  the  coming  durbar." 

"  Why  do  you  call  the  English  monkeys  ? "  in- 
quired the  native  Christian. 

"  You  know  they  have  captured  our  country  by 
tricks,  cunningly  imposing  upon  our  noble  ancestors 
by  their  grinning  sophistries  and  ready  money,  and 
that  now  with  costly  presents  and  flattering  promises 


TUE  PRINCE  OF  WALES  W  AGRA.  387 

they  are  inducing  our  maharajahs  and  rajahs  and 
zemindars  and  nabobs  to  make  a  great  parade  of 
loyalty." 

"  Allah  Akbar ! —  God  is  great !  "  responded  the 
Moslem.  "  Soon  the  great  Allah  will  drive  these  rob- 
bers out  of  the  land.  They  asked  for  a  little  ground 
for  trade  and  factories,  and  they  have  taken  all. 
They  stirred  up  wars  among  our  people,  and  for 
money  and  favors  received  pay  in  land,  till  now  they 
have  the  whole  country  in  their  greedy,  wicked  grasp. 
But  the  prayers  of  the  faithful  will  yet  be  heard,  and 
there  shall  be  an  end  of  all  this  falsehood  and  treach- 
ery and  crime." 

"  If  you  will  think,  my  friends,"  calmly  replied  the 
native  Christian  to  these  excited  haters  of  the  rule 
and  the  religion  of  the  English,  "  you  will  agree  with 
me  that  India  is  much  better  off  at  present  than  for 
many  centuries  past.  In  remote  ages  our  ancestors 
were  indeed  a  great  people  in  intelligence  and  influ- 
ence; they  spoke  the  beautiful  Sanscrit  language; 
they  built  magnificent  temples  and  cities.  We  were 
much  farther  in  advance  of  Europe  than  Europe  is 
to-day  in  advance  of  us.  But  all  thoughts  of  the  true 
God  gave  place  to  grovelling  idolatries  and  immoral- 
ities, and  we  fell  into  centuries  of  constant  wars 
against  others  and  among  ourselves.  Formerly  the 
most  educated,  we  became  the  most  ignorant  popu- 
lation of  Asia.  Justice  became  unknown,  while 
robbers  filled  the  land.  The  spirit  of  the  jungle- 
tigers  came  forth  and  took  possession  of  all  our  Hindu 
and  Moslem  rulers,  and  the  people  for  centuries  were 


3S8  SELF-GIVING. 

thought  fit  only  for  food  or  to  be  mangled  for  the 
pleasure  of  the  brutal  monsters.  Is  not  all  this 
true,  Baboo  Dasara?  You  cannot  deny  it,  Abdool 
Mejid. 

"  Yoii  are  silent,  and  confess  by  your  silence. 
And  you  know  that  now  under  the  English,  and  be- 
cause of  the  English  and  England's  God,  we  have 
peace  and  plenty  and  justice.  When  any  native  is  in 
trouble,  he  is  specially  anxious  to  be  brought  before 
an  English  judge.  Who  have  established  our  schools 
all  over  the  land,  and  constructed  our  roads,  and 
canals,  and  railways,  and  built  our  numerous  hospi- 
tals? Who  keep  your  Hindus  and  Mahometans  from 
fighting  each  other?  Who  make  it  safe  for  me  to  be- 
come a  Christian,  or  to  return  to  heathenism,  as  I 
choose  ?  " 

"  O,  you  have  sold  yourself  out  to  the  foreign  ras- 
cals,*' exclaimed  Abdool  Mejid,  unable  longer  silently 
to  submit  to  the  force  of  the  truth.  "I  suppose  they 
gave  a  thousand  rupees  for  you,  for  you  are  very 
tonguey." 

"  No,  sahib  ;  I  have  not  been  bought,  except  by  the 
blood  of  Christ,  which  cleanseth  from  sin.  Be- 
sides, those  with  whom  I  associate  the  most  inti- 
mately, are  not  English  but  American  missionaries." 

"  Anyway,"  insisted  Baboo  Dasara,  "  they  get  their 
pay  all  the  same  from  government  for  every  convert. 
Probably  your  missionary  pocketed  a  round  five 
hundred  rupees  when  you  became  false  to  your  an- 
cestors, their  customs  and  teachings." 

Ram  Chandar  Basil  turned  without  further  reply 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES  IN  AGRA.  389 

to  charges  so  utterly  groundless,  and  busied  him- 
self in  the  purchase  of  two  little  British  flags  to 
put  up  over  both  ends  of  his  humble  home,  while 
Mr.  Litchfield,  delighted  at  hearing  these  echoes 
of  his  own  instructions,  carefully  avoiding  obser- 
vation, caught  up  his  own  decorating  materials  and 
hastened  home,  to  prepare  the  mission  buildings 
for  the  morrow's  public  welcome  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales. 

The  durbar  was  indeed  a  grand  affair.  In  the 
large,  open  grounds  was  pitched  a  village  of  gayly 
decorated  tents,  that  of  the  Prince  occup}7ing  the  place 
of  honor.  On  a  raised  throne  covered  with  scarlet 
and  gold  he  sat,  receiving  the  homage  of  scores 
of  India's  nobility,  many  of  whom  had  come  long 
distances  upon  their  richly  caparisoned  elephants, 
and  accompanied  by  numerous  attendants.  There 
was  everything  present  that  could  add  to  the  Ori- 
ental   splendor   of   the    scene. 

Yet  his  Royal  Highness  did  not  seem  to  take 
any  special  interest  in  all  the  pompous  pageantry, 
except  at  the  obedient  kneeling  of  the  stately  ele- 
phants—  he  had  already  seen  so  much  of  it  at  other 
places  in  India.; 'and  then  he  knew  that  all  these 
bowing  and  smiling  grandees  expected  to  be  fully 
paid  by  the  presents  from  the  Crown  that  had 
already  been  labeled  for  them.  But  finally  appeared 
a  procession  of  the  missionaries  and  several  hun- 
dred native  Christians,  singing  as  they  advanced, 
"God   save    the    Queen." 

This  touched  the  heart  of  the  Prince.     He  knew 


390  SELF-GIVING. 

it  was  genuine  loyalty,  even  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans.  He  was  confident  it  could  be  relied 
upon  in  any  coming  times  of  trouble,  while  many 
of  these  fawning  courtiers  had  doubtless  nineteen 
years  before  thrown  all  their  influence  on  the  side 
of  the  rebellious  Sepoys.  Some  of  them  probably 
had  been  guilty  of  the  most  frightful  atrocities, 
participating  even  in  the  horrors  of  Cawnpore,  and 
nearly  all  of  them  unquestionably  would  seize  with 
ferocious  eagerness  the  first  opportunity  to  destroy 
British   power   in    India. 

Not  only  were  the  missionaries  treated  as  court- 
eously as  if  they  had  been  rajahs,  but  it  was  very 
evident  to  all  the  brilliant  assembly,  that  toward 
them  and  their  adherents  the  Prince  was  specially  cor- 
dial. For  nearly  half  an  hour  His  Highness  conversed 
with  Mr.  Litchfield  upon  the  social  condition  and 
various  industries  of  the  people,  and  especially  of 
the  village  populations.  He  put  some  leading  ques- 
tions, which  were  frankly  answered,  while  the 
amazed  Indian  nobility  listened  with  occasional 
manifestations    of   approval. 

"  As  an  American,  Mr.  Litchfield,"  said  the 
Prince,  "  we  recognize  you  as  a  •friend  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  her  Indian  Empire.  What  do  you 
think  are  the  most  important  things  which  the 
English   can   do   for   this   land  ? " 

"  As  a  Christian  people,  to  strengthen  and  multiply 
their  mission  enterprises  here,  while  the  government 
should  prohibit  the  opium-culture  and  the  trade  in 
alcoholic  liquors  except  for  medicinal  purposes." 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES  IN  AGRA.  391 

"But  if  the  government  should  lose  its  opium-rev- 
enue, the  taxes  upon  the  people  would  have  to  be 
increased  to  meet  the  deficiency,  and  the  English 
should  seek  the  rather  to  lessen  their  burdens." 

"The  cultivation  of  the  poppy,  your  Highness, 
takes  vast  quantities  of  the  best  land  in  India,  every 
acre  of  which  would  otherwise  be  productive  of  the 
staple  grains  on  which  the  people  live.  Let  the 
twenty  per  cent,  more  of  food  which  the  poppy- 
fields  could  furnish,  be  distributed  throughout  India, 
and  the  costly  periodic  famines  would  be  avoided, 
and  the  people  would  be  better  able  to  endure  any 
additional  direct  taxation  that  government  considered 
necessary." 

"  As  to  the  trade  in  alcoholic  liquors,  it  would  be 
inconsistent  not  to  allow  the  same  freedom  here  as  in 
England,  even  as  in  your  America." 

"But,  your  Highness,  intoxicating  drink  is  much 
more  harmful  to  Indian  than  to  Anglo-Saxon  consti- 
tution, and  to  any  who  live  in  this  climate,  than  to 
those  in  the  vigorous,  bracing  latitude  of  Great  Brit- 
ain. The  Hindu  can  endure  more  fire  from  the  sun 
than  we  can,  but  not  so  much  from  the  still  and  the 
brewery." 

"  I  shall  take  occasion  on  the  morrow  to  visit  your 
mission-premises,  having  heard  particularly  of  your 
industrial  departments  in  the  interest  of  self-sup- 
port." 

And  he  came  :  and  they  were  ready  for  him.  He 
sat  for  a  few  moments  as  any  other  gentleman  in  the 
mission-dwelling,    then    went    to    the    school    where 


39  SELF-GIVING. 

everything  moved  on  as  usual,  then  through  the 
publishing  house  and  shawl-manufactory  and  the 
hospital,  and  after  a  few  moments'  delay  upon  the 
.grounds, he  was  finally  conducted  to  the  chapel,  where 
the  native  Christians  had  themselves  arranged  a 
special  greeting. 

The  pulpit  platform  was  covered  with  flowers,  and 
upon  it  a  throne  was  raised  for  the  Prince,  not  expen- 
sive, with  gold  and  drapery,  but  showing  loyal, 
painstaking  effort  with  humble  materials. 

All  arose  as  he  entered,  and  remained  standing 
while  he  seated  himself  in  the  throne. 

Then  Baboo  Khiyali,  the  late  prominent  convert, 
advanced,  and  kneeling  before  the  Prince,  presented 
him  a  copy  of  the  Bible  in  Hindi ;  and  immediately 
after,  Huchi,  the  rescued  nautch-girl,  stepped  for- 
ward, and  kneeling  also,  laid  one  of  their  own 
Indian  shawls  at  his  feet. 

Graciously  the  Prince  received  the  gifts,  replying: 

"I  will  take  this  shawl  to  the  Princess  of  Wales, 
and  the  Bible  to  my  mother,  the  Queen  and  Empress. 
This  book  is  the  foundation  of  England's  greatness, 
and  it  must  be  the  foundation  of  all  future  greatness 
to  India." 

A  check  on  London  for  two  hundred  pounds,  to  be 
used  for  the  general  interests  of  the  mission,  came 
from  the  royal  guest  to  Mr.  Litchfield  the  following 
morning,  and  the  last  day  of  the  great  event  of  the 
century  in  Agra. 

All  this  social  recognition  by  the  highest  authority 
was  very   helpful  to  the   mission.     But    there,  were. 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES  IN  AGRA.  303 

influences  of  .another  character  exerted  during  the 
royal  visit,  which  went  far  toward  counteracting  all 
the  good  impression  that  had  been  made. 

Several  of  the  accompanying  English  officials  at  once 
joined  with  three  shameless  fellow-countrymen,  resi- 
dents of  Agra,  in  arranging  for  themselves  a  most 
disreputable  nautcli  entertainment,  and  then  in 
taking  the  utmost  liberties  with  the  dancers. 

Eagerly  the  natives  caught  up  this  evidence  of  the 
immorality  of  the  English  Court, and  of  the  hypocrisy 
of  Christians.  The  native  press  ridiculed  the  ex- 
cessive interest  which  had  been  taken,  on  the  one 
hand  in  the  missionaries  and  on  the  other  in  the 
nautch-girls.  And  pictures  were  printed  and  widely 
circulated,  representing  the  visitors  as  drunk  and 
lost  to  all  shame. 

And  indeed  there  had  been  an  astonishing  amount 
of  intemperance.  Wine,  and  brandy,  and  whiskey 
flowed  like  water.  Hundreds  of  broken  bottles 
marked  the  departed  encampment. 

One  of  the  officers  and  an  Agra  English  merchant, 
riding  together  on  an  elephant  around  through  the 
city,  became  so  intoxicated  that  they  fell  off,  and  the 
civilian,  especially,  was  seriously  injured. 

As  the  accident  occurred  in  front  of  the  mission 
premises,  the  wounded  men  were  carried  immediately 
into  Miss  Kilbnrne's  hospital.  The  Prince's  surgeon 
at  once  attended  them  there,  but  the  following  day 
they  had  to  be  left  in  the  care  of  the  English  resident 
physician  and  of  the  missionary  lady. 

The  officer  was  able  in  a  few  days  to  follow  the 


394  SELF-GIVING. 

royal  party  to  Calcutta,  but  the  merchant  could  not 
be  moved  to  his  own  bungalow  for  several  weeks. 

Miriam,  the  Eurasian  assistant  in  the  girls'  school 
whom  Margaret  had  saved  from  suicide  in  the  Jumna, 
had  attended  him  a  little  at  first,  and  afterwards, 
during  the  most  critical  days  of  his  case,  no  one, 
he  insisted,  would  answer  but  her. 

Indeed,  when  Mr.  Lindsey  had  become  convales- 
cent, he  felt  that  he  owed  his  life  to  the  nursing  of 
Miriam  ;   and  probably  he  was  right. 

A  noble  man  by  nature,  successful  in  business,  few 
had  stood  higher  than  Mr.  Lindsey  in  the  foreign 
community.  But  he  had  been  his  own  worst  enemy, 
and  his  bad  habits  had  lost  him  many  friends. 

"  Miriam,"  said  he,  as  he  was  leaving  the  hospital 
for  his  beautiful,  richly-furnished  bungalow,  "  Miriam, 
I  am  going  to  a  very  lonely  home,  I  wish  you  were  to 
be  with  me  there." 

"  I  think,  sir,  you  are  well  enough  now  not  to  need 
any  more  nursing.  If  you  fall  off  of  an  elephant  again, 
come  here,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  take  care  of  you." 

"  Miriam,  I  need  you  now  for  all  my  life.  Will  you 
not  become  Mrs.  Lindsey  ?  " 

"  You  forget  that  I  am  a  Eurasian,  and  that  marriage 
with  me  would  be  a  great  social  disgrace  for  you." 

"  Not  so  great  a  disgrace  as  my  own  life  has  been." 

"  Will  you  sign  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  keep  it  too  —  God  help  me  !  " 

"  Wait  one  year,  Mr.  Lindsey;  I  will  pray  daily  that 
you  may  have  strength.  When  you  have  conquered 
yourself,  it  will  be  easy  for  you  to  conquer  me." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE   TAJ   AND   THE   MISSION   GEAVE. 

LITTLE  did  Shah  Jehan  dream  when  he  built 
the  magnificent  Agra  Mausoleum  for  Noor- 
Jehan,  or  for  Mumtaz-i-Mehal,  and  inscribed  upon  its 
tomb  the  prayer  of  the  Koran  :  "Defend  us  from  un- 
believers/' that  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  later  it 
would  be  a  great  help  to  Christian  missionaries  in  un- 
doing the  work  of  Moslem  fanaticism  and  Hindu 
superstition.  For  rest  to  the  weary  toilers,  there  was 
no  place  in  that  city  or  neighborhood  to  compare  with 
the  cool,  light-softened  and  generally  quiet  central 
chamber  of  beautiful  building,  or  with  the  adjoining 
cypress  and  evergreen  garden,  its  foliage  interlaced 
by  marble  canals  and  studded  with  fountains  and 
veiling  in  every  direction  the  most  charming  archi- 
tectural creations. 

Many  a  time  the  missionaries  strolled  hitherward, 
all  tired  out  in  body,  mind,  and  heart,  their  brows 
wrinkled  with  perplexities,  their  whole  horizon  dark 
with  shadows,  and  God  spoke  to  them  through  the 
Taj,  "  It  is  I,  be  not  afraid  > ''  and  leaving  their  weari- 
ness, and  perplexities,  and  shadows  behind,  they 
returned   to   superintend   the    erection   of  the  more 

395 


396  SELF-GIVING. 

glorious  buildings  of  immortal  character,  monuments 
to  — 

Love  divine,  all  love  excelling; 

not  cold  as  marble  and  inlaid  with  precious  stones, 
but  warm  with  the  light  and  life  of  Heaven,  and 
adorned  with  beauties  art  cannot  reproduce  nor  the 
language  of   earth  describe. 

It  was  a  Saturday  afternoon.  The  toilful,  wearing 
week  was  nearly  over,  and  yet  the  morrow  was  to 
bring  its  special  labors  and  cares.  Margaret  came 
over,  suggesting  — 

"  May  we  not  all  go  to  the  Taj  for  an  hour,  to  rest 
upon  its  pillars  and  to  hear  its  songs  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Cleora,  "  and  may  we  not  take  the 
children  also,  Llewellyn?" 

lie  was  going  to  say,  no.  But  when  he  noticed 
how  unusually  pale  his  eldest  looked  that  day,  how 
large  her  eyes  and  how  languid  her  bearing,  he 
replied  : 

"  The  darlings  need  such  change  as  much  as  our- 
selves. They  carry  our  loads  much  more  than  we 
think,  as  well  as  their  own.  Say,  daughter,  why  are 
you  looking  so  tired  to-day?" 

"  O,  papa,  I  feel  so  sorry  for  you  and  mamma,  be- 
cause you  work  s<>  hard,  and  the  people  will  not  love 
Je.-us,  and  the  converts  are  so  naughty,  and  }rou  have 
such  awful  letters  to  read,  and  I  have  been  singing 
to-day  for  auntie  Margaret's  sick  folks,  and  Banerjea 
is  so  blind  he  wanted  me  to  read  to  him,  and  Nand 


TI1E  TAJ  AND  TIIE  MISSION  GRA  YE.  397 

Ram's  wife  is  ill  and  I  carried  lier  some  flowers,  and 
Beushoff  asked  me  to  tell  him  what  I  knew  about 
Jesus,  and  it  seems  to  me  there  was  something  else  — 
I  forget ;  and,  O  yes,  mamma,  I  did  not  sleep  much 
last  night;  I  was  dreaming  all  the  while  of  the  angels 
coming  for  me  "  — 

"  They  wiil  come  for  you,  darling,  if  we  do  not  get 
some  rest  for  you  also,"  exclaimed  the  half-choking 
father  as  he  snatched  her  up  in  his  arms,  and,  putting 
on  his  hat  and  hers,  started  for  the  door. 

'•Let  her  walk,  papa,"  called  Cleora  from  behind, 
following  with  Margaret  and  the  little  toddlers;  "bet- 
ter for  her  and  you." 

But  beheld  her  there,  her  breast  close  to  his  ear. 

"Take  a  long  breath,  my  darling." 

"  It  hurts  me  so,  papa." 

Crossing  the  great  gateway  of  the  garden  court, 
all  but  Mr.  Litchfield  soon  seemed  as  if  in  another 
world.  The  babes  were  chasing  the  goldfi>h  around 
the  fountains;  the  child  Cleora  was  watching  the 
birds  among  the  evergreens,  and  Margaret  had 
thrown  herself  upon  the  grass  at  the  foot  of  a  vener- 
able cypress,  saying  she  would  watch  the  bairns  while 
the  parents  strolled  on  as  they  desired,  into  the  Taj. 

They  had  reached  the  marble  platform,  when  Cleora 
observed  : 

"How  much  that  lofty  dome  has  to  tell  since  it 
first  looked  upon  its  builder  in  the  pavilions  of  yon- 
der p  ilatial    harem  !  " 

"  Yes  ;  but  it  will  have  a  more  thrilling  story  yet  to 
tell,  not  of  Mogul  and  English  conquests,  but  of  the 


398  SELF-GIVING. 

complete  triumphs  of  Christian  missions  over  these 
swarming  Hindu  and  Moslem  millions." 

"  If  it  can  see  around  the  world,  Llewellyn,  when 
that  glorious  time  shall  come,  it  will  see  also  our 
home-ministry  and  churches  fully  interested  in  the 
cause  of  foreign  missions." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,  Cleora.  History  sug- 
gests another  possibility.  And  I  should  not  wonder 
if  the  dome  of  this  Taj  shall  see  foreign  missionaries 
sent  from  India  to  convert  heathen  Americans  and 
Englishmen." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  she  suggested  as  they  moved  on, 
glancing  around,  "  that  the  Taj  itself  is  made  doubly 
beautiful  by  its  architectural  surroundings.  Take 
away  those  minarets  of  such  exquisite  proportions, 
and  that  mosque  and  the  gate,  and  half  the  charm 
would  be  gone." 

"  Yes ;  and  it  will  doubtless  be  so  with  our  life  when 
it  is  completed.  Half  the  beauty  of  God's  work  with 
us  is  in  our  surroundings.  But  ah,  some  of  those  sur- 
roundings seem  greatly  to  disfigure  and  to  mar  the 
effect  until  the  scaffolding  is  down." 

"  Have  you  noticed,  Llewellyn,  that  there  is  a  stud- 
ied progress  in  the  characteristic  ornamentation  from 
the  gate  to  the  sepulchres,  at  first  a  careful  refrain, 
until  at  last  all  possible  wealth  of  the  Mogul  or  Italian 
inlaying  art,  in  the  most  graceful  designs  of  combined 
wreaths,  and  scrolls,  and  frets,  is  poured  upon  the 
tombs  ?  " 

"  It  is  almost  matchless  art ;  of  its  kind  equal  even 
to  the  intellectual  adornments  of  Greek  architecture. 


THE  TAJ  AND  THE  MISSION  GRAVE.  399 

And  doubtless  with  equal  skill  the  Divine  Architect 
is  apportioning  the  events  which  are  to  inlay  our  lives 
to  the  end.  We  say  there  might  be  more  ornament 
now,  as  just  here  upon  the  wall  of  this  portal  —  more 
agates  and  jaspers,  more  smiles  and  satisfactions. 
But  it  is  beyond  where  the  lavish  decoration  is  needed. 
Ah,  how  hard  for  us  to  consent  to  perfect  taste  and 
skill,  to  the  Master's  subordination  of  beauty,  the 
portal  to  the  temple,  the  here  to  the  hereafter !  " 

They  were  in  the  centre,  beneath  the  dome,  inside 
the  elegant  screen  of  white  marble  trellis-work,  stand- 
ing between  the  tombs  of  the  Mogul  emperor  and 
empress. 

"  Sit  down,  Cleora ;  you  know  it  will  not  be  dese- 
cration, for  the  bodies  are  really  in  other  sepulchres 
in  the  vault  below." 

In  silence  she  traced  the  exquisite  designs  of  in- 
laid work  and  the  Mendings  of  color  upon  the  pure 
white  marble,  while  he  was  sadly  thinking  of  what 
he  had  listened  to  in  the  breast  of  his  child. 

Soon  the  little  feet  of  that  daughter  were  heard 
tripping  along  the  marble  pavement.  She  did  not 
see  her  parents,  hid  by  the  trellis-work,  and  thought 
she  was  all  alone.  Well  she  knew  of  the  wonder- 
ful echo,  having  often  played  with  it,  and  she 
began  singing  in  Hindi,  with  which  she  was  more 
familiar  than  with  English,  making  a  pause  between 
each   line   to   hear    "  the   angels  answer,"  — 


I  want  to  be  an   angel, 

—  be  an  angel, 


400  SELF-GIVING. 

And  with  the  angels  stand  ; 

—  angels  stand  ; 

A  crown  upon  my  forehead, 

—  on  my  forehead, 

A  harp  within  my  hand, 

—  in  my  hand. 

And    as  she    sped  away^  she    added  — 

Pretty  angels  up  there,  I  throw  you  kisses, 

—  throw  you  kisses. 

Give  me  kiss  for  mamma, 

—  kiss  for  mamma. 

And  for  papa  too, 

—  for  papa  too. 

"Darling,  our  first-born  will  be  ripe  for  Heaven 
soon,"  said  Llewellyn,  breaking  the  silence  which 
followed  the  last  pattering  of  the  feet  and  the  last 
echo  of  the  echoes. 

"  We  will  take  her  home  next  year,  and  then 
she  will  become  better  and  strong." 

"  She  will  reach  home  sooner  than  we  can  reach 
America." 

44  O,  what  do  you  mean,   Llewellyn  ?  " 

And  he  told  her  that  both  lungs  were  almost 
gone,  that  he  had  only  just,  discovered  it,  and  that 
should  they  start  for  home  immediately,  they  would 
have    to  bury  her  at  sea. 

"  Why,"  sobbed  Cleora,  "  why  have  we  been  so 
blind    to  it?     Why  did  not   Margaret  see  it?" 

"  The  real  disease  has  probably  been  only  for  a 
few  days;    and    she    has   always  appeared  so   frail; 


THE  TAJ  AND  THE  MISSION  GRAVE.  401 

and  then  the  attention  of  all  three  of  us  lias  been 
unusually    absorbed    of  late    in    mission-work/' 

"  Dark  —  dark  it  will  be  to  have  to  part  with 
our   angel !  " 

"Look  up  yonder,  Cleora,  where  her  echoing  sis- 
ters are.  You  see  where  the  light  comes  through 
the  white  marble  trellis-screens?  You  know  they 
are  double;  one  there  for  this  inner  wall,  and  another 
corresponding  for  the  outside  wall.  That  arrange- 
ment in  any  other  climate  than  this  would  leave 
us  here  in  almost  total  darkness;  but  with  white 
marble  everywhere,  and  the  glaring  Indian  sun,  we 
have  light  enough ;  and  open  windows  there  we 
could  not   endure." 

"I  ask  not  for  open  windows,  but  only  that  God 
will   not   close    up   the    trellxs-screens   also." 

"  He  will  not,  Cleora.  He  will  give  us  all  the 
light  that  we  can  endure.  Trials,  afflictions,  bereave- 
ments ,  he  is  oid}r  tempering  the  glare  of  the  light 
of  his  presence  and  love,  that  while  we  have  earthly 
eyes  it  may  be  tolerable." 

Again  there  were  voices. 

44  Come,  auntie  Margaret,  let  us  go  in  and  hear 
the  angels.     Now  be  still,  Juddie,  Maggie." 


Angels!    Angels! 

—  Angels!    Angels! 

Ha!  ha!    We've  come. 

—  Ha!  ha!    We've  come. 


That   moment   little  Cleora  sank   upon    the  pave- 


402  SELF-GIVING. 

merit  without  a  sound.  Margaret  rushed  forward, 
and  at  the  same  instant  the  parents  flew  from 
behind  the  trellis  through  which  they  had  been 
watching   and   listening. 

Blood  was  flowing  from  the  mouth,  and  death 
was  marked  upon  the  face.  Everything  that  could 
be  done  was  done,  that  only  those  eyes  once  more 
might  know  them  and  those  lips  speak  another 
word. 

Unconsciously  the  tiny,  slender  form  rested  in 
the  mother's  arms.  The  father  had  brought  water, 
and  was  bathing  the  marble  brow.  Margaret  was 
gone   for  other    restoratives. 

Presently  the  eyes  opened,  and  with  a  smile  of 
recognition.  And  then  in  a  few  moments  there 
came  a  flash  of  strength  and  vigor,  as  if  she  were 
herself  again,  and  with  voice  that  brought  back 
distinctly  the  wonderful  echoes  of  the  overhanging 
dome,    she    exclaimed  — 

O,   mamma,  papa,  they  be  truly  angels  now! 

—  truly  angels  now! 

Mamma,   they   all  look  beautiful   as   you, 

—  beautiful  as   you. 

They'll  take  me  right  to  Jesus'   arms, 

—  to  Jesus'  arms. 

And  you  will  both  come  soon, 

—  both  come  soon. 

Singing! 

—  Singing ! 

Angels   of  Jesus! 

—  Angels   of    Jesus! 


THE  TAJ  AND  THE  MISSION  GBAVE.  403 

And  without  another  word  for  the  tearful,  eager 
parents  to  hear,  or  for  the  dome  of  the  Taj  to 
echo,  the  "  truly  angels "  had  come,  and  doubt- 
less with  song  had  carried  the  child-missionary 
from  her  mother's  arms  to  the  arms  of  Him  who 
hath  said,  "Suffer  little  children,  and  forbid  them 
not,  to  come  unto  me ;  for  of  such  is  the  King- 
dom   of    Heaven." 

In  two  days  a  few  feet  of  ground  were  bought 
and  fenced  off  next  to  the  Taj-enclosure  upon 
the  east,  and  there  was  a  little  mound,  so  little 
beside  the  great  Mausoleum ;  but  the  one  is  hon- 
ored in  Heaven,  while  the  other  is  honored  only 
on  earth. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

NECESSITY   AND   PREPARATIONS   FOR  RETURN   HOME. 

NONE  know  how  much  God  can  enable  tliem 
to  endure,  until  they  have  passed  through 
the  fire. 

The  missionaries  thought  they  had  reached  their 
utmost  limit  of  endurance  before  the  bereavement,  and 
surely  now,  with  the  vacant  chair,  the  little  grave  ;  but 
they  were  to  learn  their  mistake. 

All  work  seemed  harder  under  the  heart-load,  the 
days  longer,  the  weariness  greater  every  night. 

"I  do  not  know  what  makes  me  so  tired,  Llew- 
ellyn. No  more  steps  to-day  than  usual.  But  few 
more  cares.      And  I  think  I  am  perfectly  well." 

"  Mountains  we  are  carrying,  Cleora  ;  and  when  we 
thought  a  straw  more  would  crush  us  to  the  ground, 
God  added  a  heavier  mountain  still." 

44  But  the  grace  he  gives  is  not  sufficient." 

44  O,  yes,  indeed,  to  bear  up  under  the  load,  though 
not  to  make  us  insensible  to  its  presence.  It  is  kind 
in  him  to  leave  us  ability  to  measure  his  grace." 

The  previous  winter  Mr.  Litchfield  had  promised  in 
another  year  a  course  of  lectures  upon  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  to   an  Agra   association   of  learned 

401 


PREPARATIOXS  FOR  RETURN  HOME.  405 

Hindus.'  It  was  in  the  highest  degree  important  that 
theie  should  be  no  failure  in  meetings  this  enirafre- 
nient,  as  the  opportunity  was  quite  unprecedented  in 
that  locality.  But  the  extra  work  brought  on  sleep- 
less nights;  food  lost  its  relish,  ami  it  became  evi- 
dent, at  least  each  to  the  other,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
LitchfieTd  were  rapidly  breaking  down. 

During  these  months,  and  iiideed  now  for  more  than 
a  year,  there  had  been  no  marked  ingathering  of  con- 
verts. A  few  had  professed  conversion,  but  scarcely 
more  than  the  number  which  had  been  excluded,  so 
that  the  statistics  reported  home  were  not  specially 
encouraging. 

"  We  are  having  glorious  times  over  on  the  other 
side  of  the  city.  Our  work  is  earning  everything  be- 
fore it,"  said  a  calling  brother  missionary  one  evening, 
who  came  to  arrange  for  the  transfer  of  membership 
of  several  of  Mr.  Litchfield's  flock  to  his  own  fold, 
where,  they  had  been  persuaded  by  the  superficial 
appearance,  there  was  more  real  spirituality  and 
evangelizing  enterprise. 

"We  rejoice  with  you,  Brother  Nelson,  and  hope 
that  all  }'Our  accessions  will  prove  elements  of  strength 
and  prosperity." 

"  There  is  no  danger ;  I  wish  you  could  have  heard 
the  experiences  of  the  two  hundred  we  received  last 
month.  So  tearful;  so  enthusiastic;  evidently  the 
work  of  the  Spirit.  And  you  might  enjoy  such  a 
Pentecost  here,  if  you  would  stop  your  lecturing  to 
aristocratic  Hindus,  and  shut  up  your  theological 
seminary,  and  get  off  your  hobby  of  self-support  for 


406  SELF-GIVING. 

native  schools  and  churches,  and  keep  from  having 
so  many  irons  in  the  fire,  and  with  Paul's  singleness 
of  purpose  do  this  one  thing  —  convert  heathen. 
Bat  I  must  go.  Please  have  those  letters  ready  be- 
fore Sunday;  I  think  they  will  make  an  even  five 
hundred  of  new  members  to  be  admitted  to  our  com- 
munion. What  a  shaking  of  dry  bones  there  will  be 
among  our  English  churches  when  they  hear  the 
glorious  news !  " 

"  Nevertheless,  Cleora,"  said  her  husband,  after 
the  statistically  successful  missionary  had  departed, 
"I  think  we  are  working* right,  and  that  the  wisdom 
of  God  is  leading  us.  But  such  comparative  results 
cast  shadows  — dark  shadows,  when  we  think  of  the 
prevailing  estimate  at  home  of  missionary  success. 
There  is  the  post-boy!  " 

"  Only  a  paper,  the  New  York  Reflector,  with  a 
marked  editorial  article  on  Dissipation  of  Missionary 
Effectiveness." 

"  That  means  us,  Cleora.     Read  it,  please." 

It  was  severe  and  depressing.  Though  neither 
Agra  nor  the  Litchfields  were  mentioned  by  name, 
the  editor  had  evidently  seen  their  statistics,  and 
concluded  that  the  multiplicity  of  the  station's  depart- 
ments was  interfering  with  success.  '  Many  in  Amer- 
ica would  know  the  reference. 

Returning  on  a  Sunday  morning  from  the  general 
service  at  the  chapel,  it  was  found  that  robbers  had 
gone  through  the  house,  making  off  with  everything 
of  portable  value.  The  bureau  drawers  and  the 
trunks   had   been    ransacked.      Cleora's    watch   was 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  RETURN  HOME.  407 

gone,  and  a  roll  of  twenty  Bank  of  England  five- 
pound  notes.  The  former,  redeemed  since  its  cruel 
sacrifice,  was  especially  treasured  as  a  token  of  the 
old,  unbroken  home  in  Botton ;  and  the  latter  had 
been  the  careful  savings  of  years,  to  pay  the  expense 
of  a  brief  Palestine  tour,  on  the  way  for  the  home 
vacation.  It  had  been  lent,  and  lately  returned,  and 
perhaps  should  have  gone  immediately  into  a  bank ; 
b.ut  one  Agra  bank  had  recently  failed,  with  three 
thousand  dollars  of  the  station's  money  on  deposit, 
and  only  offered  twenty  per  cent,  in  settlement. 

"  We  shall  not  miss  seeing  the  Holy  Land,  Llew- 
ellyn.    I  will  draw  upon  my  own  funds  in  Boston." 

"  Yet  we  shall  miss  the  pleasure  of  a  tour  paid  out 
of  our  own  earnings  and  savings,  and  the  satisfaction 
of  showing  other  missionaries  that  with  economy  and 
good  management  this  gratification  is  within  reach  of 
them  all." 

About  the  time  of  their  daughter's  death,  a  gift  of 
money  came  from  a  church  in  Rhode  Island,  dis- 
tinctly specified  as  for  a  complete  bandy  for  the 
use  of  the  missionaries  in  jungle-touring.  The  cart 
was  bought,  fitted  with  English  springs,  covered  and 
furnished  very  comfortably.  A  pair  of  well-trained 
trotting  oxen  was  added,  and  the  much  needed  estab- 
lishment was  complete.  But  when  the  executive 
officers  at  the  Rooms  heard  of  this  specific  donation, 
one  of  them  at  least  was  very  indignant,  and  Mr. 
Litchfield  was  notified  that  the  amount  would  be 
deducted  from  the  annual  appropriation  for  the 
incidental  expenses  of  the  Agra-Mission. 


40S  SELF-GIVIXG. 

"  I  would  tell  that  church  all  about  it,  Llewellyn  !  " 

"  Xo,  Cleora;  that  would  do  more  harm  than  good. 
The  Rooms  have  their  closets  and  skeletons,  and  it  is 
our  duty  to  help  keep  the  doors  shut,  and  the  un- 
sightly unseen." 

"  But  it  is  so  hard  to  be  treated  so  meanly  !  "    • 

"  They  do  not  intend  it  so.  It  is  only  anxiety 
to  guard  the  interests  of  the  general  treasury." 

uBut  Secretary  King  charges  you  with  inconsist- 
ency." 

"  I  will  remind  him  that  while  I  have  declined  to 
be  the  occasion  of  any  diverting  of  regular  benevo- 
lences, I  have  insisted  that  individuals  and  churches 
had  the  right  to  present  incidental  tokens  of  regard 
to  the  missionaries.  And  I  did  not  purchase  that 
bandy  until  I  saw  that  that  Rhode  Island  church  was 
reported  as  even  exceeding  its  regular  annual  con- 
tribution." 

Ever  since  Mr.  Litchfield  began  his  jungle  work 
among  the  outlying  villages,  he  had  used  elephants 
to  some  extent.  They  could  tear  so  easily  through 
the  tall,  dense  undergrowth  of  rank  vegetation.  In 
several  portions  of  his  district,  which  were  infested 
with  tigers,  the  elephants  made  it  also  much  more 
safe  for  travellers.  On  these  tours  he  usually  took 
along  his  gun ;  and  occasionally  he  used  it  very 
effectively,  for  he  was  a  good  shot.  Once  he  killed 
a  lioness,  and  brought  her  two  cubs  to  the  station. 
And  sometimes,  when  his  native  driver  had  difficulty 
with  the  elephant  they  were  riding,  and  even  upon 
other  occasions,  for  the  mere  sport  of  it,  he  would 


PREPARATION B  FOR  RETURN  HOME.  409 

himself  take  the  huge  animal  in  hand,  and  thus  had 
secured  quite  a  local  reputation  as  a  master  of  ele- 
phants, as  well  as  a  successful  hunter. 

Now  all  this  was  very  natural  and  not  at  all  to  be 
censured,  except  that  occasionally  Mr.  Litchfield  was 
tempted  to  kill  a  pretty  bird.  Yet  even  this  he  did 
for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  beautiful  feathers  for  the 
ladies'  hats.  But  it  was  enough  for  the  toncrue 
of  slander  which  works  in  India  as  well  as  America, 
and  sometimes  in  the  mouths-  of  missionaries  and 
ministers  as  Well  as  among  the  laity  and  the  world. 

Somebody  in  Delhi  said:  "  Those  Agra  mission- 
aries must  be  very  worldly  people." 

Somebody  in  Allahabad  said:  "If  Mr.  Litchfield 
must  give  all  his  time  to  elephant  and  tiger  sport, 
and  to  keeping  a  menagerie  on  the  mission  premises, 
lie  better  resign  and  hire  out  as  agent  of  a  zoological 
garden." 

And  then  somebody  in  Calcutta  said  that  some- 
body in  Agra  had  said  that  "  Mrs.  Litchfield  and 
Miss  Kilburne  were  so  excessively  vain,  that  they 
each  had  two  new  bonnets  every  season,  and  to 
furnish  them  with  pretty  feathers,  kept  Mr.  Litchfield 
him ;ing  in  the  jungle  nearly  all  the  time." 

And  worse  still,  the  good  senior  secretary  had 
written  this  winter  from  the  Rooms,  that  he  was 
sorry  to  report  that  it  Avas  very  generally  rumored  at 
home  that  the  formeiiy  esteemed  and  trusted  senior 
Agra  missionaries  had  been  tempted  aside  from  their 
legitimate  work',  and  had  gone  extensively  into  the 
business  of  furnishing  animals  for  the  London  Zoolog- 


410  SELF-GIVING. 

ical  Gardens,  and  ornamental  feathers  for  a  leading 
millinery  establishment  in  Paris.  He  added  that  it 
had  been  decided  to  immediately  reinforce  the  station 
with  two  missionary  families,  including  a  male  phy- 
sician. 

"  Well,  Cleora,  is  not  that  wonderful  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  wonderful  slander  and  wonderful  cre- 
dulity."* 

"  No,  I  mean  wonderful  overruling  of  God ;  over- 
ruling this  miserable  slander  for  the  reinforcement  of 
our  station..  For  years  we  have  pleaded  fortius  help. 
I  have  written  quires  of  paper  to  the  Rooms  explain- 
ing the  necessity.  And  now,  after  more  than  nine 
years,  it  has  appeared  impossible  to  take  the  vacation 
on  which  our  very  life  seems  to  depend,  because  there 
are  none  to  step  into  our  places,  and  we  can  get 
no  promise  of  an}^.  But  here  it  is,  and  they  are 
coming.  O,  Cleora,  thank  God,  they  are  coming, 
and  because  of  this  wretched  slander  —  no,  because 
truly  God  has  made  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him." 

"But,  Llewellyn,  it  is  painful  to  be  so.  humbled;- 
humbled  in    our  reputation,    humbled    in  having  all 
our  labor  and  requests  set  aside  as  nothing  in  regard 
to  the  reinforcement.     And  now  they  are  coming  to 
save  the  cause  from  our  supposed  worldliness  !  " 

"  I  really  do  not  care  about  all  that,  Cleora.  I  am 
so  glad  help  is  at  hand,  and  your  life  may  now  be 
spared  to  the  babies  and  to  me,  and  we  all  to  the 
cause.  Come,  now,  no  tears  of  vexation  or  wounded 
pride.  '  Neither  is  he  that  planteth  any  thing,  neither 
he  that  watereth.'     Sing,  darling  — 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  RETURN  HOME.  411 

Oh,  to  be  nothing,  nothing, 

Only  to  lie  at  his  feet, 
A  broken  and  emptied  vessel, 

For  the  Master's  use  made  meet. 
Emptied,  that  He  might  fill  me 

As  forth  to  His  service  I  go; 
,     Broken,  that  so  unhindered, 

His  life  through  me  might  flow. 

Hitherto  they  had  stood  well  in  the  English 
society  of  Agra,  but  since  the  death  of  their  daughter 
there  had  been  a  marked  change  in  the  cordiality 
and  attentions  they  received.  Before  that  bereave- 
ment, cards  at  least  were  exchanged  with  all  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  highest  in  the  civil  and  military  services, 
as  also  with  those  of  the  leading  merchants.  While 
the  missionaries  found  it  impossible  to  accept  a  tenth 
of  the  invitations  extended  them  to  parties  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  having  neither  time  to  go  nor' time  for 
preparations,  they  invariably  had  the  pleasure  of 
declining. 

But  all  this  winter  they  had  been  left  en- 
tirely alone.  There  had  been  no  calls,  no  invita- 
tions. What  could  it  mean  ?  If  they  had  murdered 
their  child,  they  could  not  have  been  more  avoided 
by  the  social  life  of  Agra.  And  Miss  Kilburne  also 
was  out  in  the  cold. 

"  I  have  the  secret,"  announced  the  latter  one 
evening,  as  she  seated  herself  upon  the  mission- 
veranda. 

"What?"  asked  Cleora.  ''Secret,  that  we  are 
nobodies  in  Agra  society,  after  these  years  of  ac- 
knowledged respectability  ?  " 


412  SELF-GIVING. 

"Yes;  Miriam  overheard  Mrs.  Medley  speaking  to 
Mrs.  Chown  about  it.  It  is  because  we  have  not. 
dressed  in  mourning  over  the  death  of  little  Clcora." 

"I  supposed  we  would  be  criticized  fur  the  neg- 
lect, but  in  a  few  hours  after  the  blow  I  could  not 
feel  like  making  a  great  display  of  grief  over  the 
safe  escape  of  my  darling  from  this  world  of  sin,  from 
India's  heathenism,  and  from  her  own  weaknesses 
and  pains,  to  the  beautiful  home  of  Jesus  and  the 
angels    above." 

"  To  cover  ourselves  with  black  crape,  when  our 
dear  ones  are  robed  in  white  and  singing  with 
the    redeemed   in   Heaven,   does   seem   inconsistent." 

"  Then  you  know,  Margaret,  as  we  missionaries 
have  to  be  so  thoroughly  practical,  black  crape 
would  interfere  very  much  with  our  work  in  this 
climate.  •  Unless  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning 
to  four  in  the  afternoon,  every  day  from  March 
to  October,  we  give  ourselves  up  to  doing  nothing 
but  lounge  under  the  swinging  punkas,  we  can- 
not   endure    the    melting    costume." 

"  Yes,  that  is  so;  and  crape  bonnets,  and  crape  on 
Mr.  Litchfield's  hat  would  ensure  sunstroke  the 
first  day.  Or  if  we  did  reach  home  alive  after 
tramping  these  dusty  streets  and  the  still  more  dusty 
villages  around,  how  filthy  we  would  appear !  " 

"Here  is  a  letter  I  had  not  noticed,"  interrupted 
Mr.  Litchfield.  "It  was  in  the  folds  of  one  of 
these  papers.  The  secretary  urges  us  to  remain 
upon  the  field  another  year  until  the  new  mis- 
sionaries  become   acquainted   with    their   work." 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  RETURN  HOME.  413 

"I  ana  ready,  if  it  is  best,"  replied  Cleora  with 
quivering   lips.    ■" 

"  Yes,  ready  to  die,"  exclaimed  Llewellyn;  "but 
I  am  not  ready  to  allow  it.  If  necessary  I  will 
wait,  but  you  must  go  next  month,  with  the  babes, 
to    America." 

"Now  I  want  a  promise  from  you  both,"  inter- 
rupted Margaret.  "It  is  that  you  will  leave  your 
part  c  f  the  decision  of  this  whole  vacation-ques- 
ti  in  to  the  other  missionaries  of  our  station.  You 
know  there  are  nine  of  us  besides  }*ou  now.  Will 
you  accept  whatever  we  may  agree  to  unanimously." 

"Yes.     Will  we    not,    Llewellyn?" 

He  did  not  answer  for  a  moment,  reflecting  upon 
the  possible  feeling  of  the  new  missionaries,  and 
how  it  might  lead  them  to  act  hastily  in  regard 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  mission.  Then  he 
replied  — 

"  And  I  will  agree  also,  provided  the  judgment 
is  endorsed  by  the  senior  missionaries  here  of  the 
other   Societies." 

"Well  then,"  said  Margaret,  "prepare  to  go  home- 
ward next  month,  both  of  you.  I  know  what  they 
all  will  say.  And  by  next  steamer  from  Bombay, 
I  will  have  a  letter  off  for  the  secretary,  requesting 
that  permission  be  cabled  you ;  and  the  application 
will  be  signed  by  every  one  of  us,  no  mistake  at 
all." 

And  so  it  was.  Doctor  Dunbar  relieved  Miss  Kil- 
burne  of  the  hospital,  while  she  moved  into  the  Litch- 
field  dwelling,  as  more  convenient   for  her   school, 


414  SELF-GIVING. 

zenana  and  Bible-women  work.  Miss  Rivington, 
transferred  from  Bareilly,  was  to  be  her  companion. 
The  new  bungalow,  recently  completed,  was  large 
enough  to  accommodate  both  the  Fowler  and  Wight- 
man  families,  if  ever  one  house  is  large  enough  for 
two  families. 

New  trunks  and  dresses  were  procured.  Part  of 
the  furniture  was  sold,  as  it  did  not  pay  to  store 
goods  even  for  a  year  in  that  climate.  Huchi  was  to 
accompany  the  little  seven-year-old  twins.  All  the 
plans  included  the  Palestine  detour.  But  no  funds 
were  required  from  Boston.  Two  English  saddles, 
one  most  beautifully  mounted  for  a  lady's  use,  arrived 
from  Calcutta,  and  the  same  evening  a  messenger 
brought  a  letter,  which  read :. 

"  Will  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  please  accept  the 
saddles  and  enclosed  draft  for  one  hundred  pounds, 
for  their  tour  of  the  Holy  Land,  in  token  to  the  mis- 
sion of  R.  B.  Lindsey's  grateful  appreciation  of  his 
affianced  Miriam  ?  " 


CHAPTER  XLL 

MORE  HEROISM  AT  CASHMERE  GATE  AND  LUCKNOW 
RESIDENCY. 

AFTER  all  the  work  of  rearranging  and  of  get- 
ting the  machinery  of  the  station  in  motion 
again  was  done,  Margaret  Kilburne  began  to  realize 
that  she  was  as  tired, 'if  not  so  worn  out,  as  the  Litch- 
fields. 

Two  weeks'  immediate  change  and  rest  were  urged 
upon  her  by  the  other  missionaries.  But  where 
should  she  go  ?  It  was  not  hot  enough  yet  for  one 
who  was  acclimated  to  flee  to  Dehra  Doon  or  Kainee 
Tal,  or  anywhere  else  upon  the  Himalayas.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  season  was  too  far  advanced  for  her 
to  entertain  the  plan  she  would  have  preferred,  of  the 
rough,  toilful  journey  to  Chota  Nagpore,  where  a 
German  sister  had  been  entreating  her  to  come  and 
see  the  wonderful  work  among  the  Kolhs. 

It  was  finally  decided  to  go  first  to  Delhi,  as  the 
nearest  resting-place.  But  Margaret  little  dreamed 
of  the  conflict  of  soul  which  there  awaited  her,  and 
which  she  was  hastening  by  several  days. 

Part  of  the  second  afternoon  there  had  been  spent 
with  her  missionary  lady  friend,  in  the  magnificent 
apartments  of  Shah  Jehans'  palace,  recalling    the    gor- 

415 


410  SELF-GIVING. 

geoas  scenes  of  Mogul  history  centreing  here  ;  while 
appreciating  the  noble  octagonal  entrance,  the  Nobut 
Khana  or  music  hall,  the  Dewanni  Aum,  where  stood 

the  "peacock  throne,"  the  Rung  Mehal  and  the 
Dewanni  Khas,  thinking  all  the  while  how  fur  from 
truth  the  famous  inscription  around  the  roof  of  the 
latter,  the  private  audience  hall  —  u1l  there  is  a 
heaven  on  earth,  it  is  this,  it  is  this  !  " 

"Ah,  Miss  Leach,  -how  much  more  we  know  of 
'heaven  on  earth'  in  the  blessed  privilege  which  is 
purs,  of  working  for  the  salvation  of  heathen  souls  ! :' 

"  Yes,  Miss  Kilburne.  Though  this  was  the  most 
magnificent  palace  of  India,  perhaps  of  the  world,  I 
Would  not  exchange  for  it  my  humble  mission-bunga- 
low." 

They  strolled  along  out  the  Chandni  Chowk,  pass- 
ing in  sight  of  the  imposing  Jumna  Musjid,  and 
then  turning  through  the  well-kept  English  garden, 
made  their  way  to  the  Cashmere  Gate. 

As  Margaret  stopped  to  read  the  memorial  inscrip- 
tions there  to  the  world-known  heroism  of  British 
troops  in  storming  the  city  at  this  gate,  Miss  Leach 
moved  on  a  few  rods  to  pluck  some  wild  flowers. 

At  the  same  moment  a  carriage  passed  with  four 
gentlemen,  one  of  whom  Margaret  immediately  rec- 
ognized as  General  Loughridge,  late  United  States 
Senator  "from  Illinois.  Although  instantly  she 
turned  her  face,  the  recognition  had  been  mutual,  and 
greatly  to  her  confusion,  Margaret  heard  him  btop 
the  horses,  and  excuse  himself  to  his  companions,  say- 
ing: 


MORE  HEROISM.  417 

"This  is  an  American  missionary  lady,  an  old 
acquaintance." 

"Miss  Kilbnrne,  although  yon  have  not  replied  to 
several  letters  I  lmve  written  you  since  j^our  coming 
to  India,  you  will  not  consider  this  an  intrusion,  I 
hope." 

u  O,  no,  General  Loughridge.  I  trust  you  are 
well.     And  are  you  travelling,  or  residing  abroad  ?  " 

"  On  leaving  Washington  a  few  weeks  ago,  I 
started  on  a  very  rapid  tour  around  the  world, 
expecting  especially  to  meet  you  in  two  or  three  days 
in  Agra." 

"  Indeed,  Mr.  Loughridge,  your  persistent  per- 
sonal interest  in  me,  however  nattering,  is  very 
unreasonable." 

"I  cannot  help  it.  Ever  since  our  pleasant  com- 
panionship in  Chicago  I  have  wanted  you  to  give  up 
the  idea  of  living  and  working  in  India.  But  now  I 
can  have  the  appointment  of  Consul-General  to  this 
country,  and  reside  in  Calcutta  probably  for  many 
years." 

"  O,  please  not  torture  me  with  such  generosity  of 
heart  and  hand.  I  am  wedded  to  another  whom  I 
love  —  Christ  —  and  his  mission  cause  is  my  life." 

"  I  will  not  interfere  with  your  religion  and  your 
work,  if  only  you  will  create  for  me  a  home." 

"  Impossible.  Go  back  to  America  and  forget  me. 
God  give  you  some  noble  woman,  you  deserve  her. 
Farewell!  Please  not  stay  a  moment  longer.  lean- 
not  endure  this  conflict  of  womanhood  with  Christian 
principle.     Do  not  drive  me  insane  !    Go  !    Ah,  there 


418  SELF-GIVING. 

is  my  company ;  I  join  her  at  once.  God  bless  you ! 
Farewell  forever!" 

Miss  Leach  noticed  the  flushed  face  and  tearful 
eyes  of  Margaret,  and  totally  unaware  of  the  inter- 
view, presumed  that  the  inscriptions  and  touching 
memories  had  affected  her  as  they  had  multitudes  of 
others. 

"  Such  heroism,  such  noble  self-sacrifice  as  those 
British  soldiers  displayed,  Miss  Kilburne,  are  what 
we  need  as  missionaries  in  battling  for  the  Lord." 

"  Yes  ;    God  knows  that  is  so  !  " 

"Indeed,  how  much  he  knows  that  none  others 
know,  and  none  others  can  know,  of  our  conflicts, 
and  wounds,  and  heart-bleedings." 

"  Let  us  hasten  back  to  your  room ;  I  must  take 
the  next  down-train.  As  you  love  the  cause  and  me, 
please  not  ask  any  explanation." 

Margaret  went  very  early  to  the  station,  and,  buy- 
ing a  third-class  ticket  for  Agra,  seated  herself  where 
she  felt  quite  safe  from  observation,  should  General 
Loughridge  take  the  same  train. 

She  had  no  intention,  hpwever,  of  going  to  Agra  and 
running  the  risk  of  another  interview  with  him. 
Her  Delhi  friends  were  allowed  to  hear  her  ask  for 
an  Agra  ticket,  that,  should  he  call  there  upon  her, 
they  would  not  be  able  to  help  him  in  tracing  her. 
So  at  Allygurh,  giving  the  guard  a  hastily  pencilled 
letter  to  Miss  Rivington,  she  skipped  over  through 
the  station  to  the  train  for  Lucknow,  via  Bareilly. 

As  she  seated  herself  again  for  the  much  longer 
ride,  she   saw  General  Loughridge  pacing  back  and 


MORE  HEROISM.  419 

forth  alongside  the  first-class  car  of  the  Delhi  and 
Agra  train. 

Instantly  she  raised  the  blind  to  her  window, 
shutting  out  the  prospect  of  love,  and  wealth,  and 
honor,  and  shutting  in  the  certainty  of  inappreciation, 
and  poverty,  and  of  almost  insupportable  loneliness. 

" I  do  this,  O  Christ,  for  thee!"  she  whispered  as 
she  buried  her  face  in  her  hands  and  wept.  But  be- 
fore the  train  reached  the  crossing  of  the  Ganges, 
peace  had  come  to  her  troubled  heart,  "peace  pass- 
ing all  understanding." 

At  Bareilly,  in  the  m<frning,  Margaret  would  have 
stopped  off  for  a  day's  rest,  for  she  felt  very 
weary  from  the  excitement  and  travel.  But  there 
was  a  widower  missionary  there,  whose  wife  had  been 
dead  a  year,  and  to  avoid  any  occasion  for  scandal, 
she  decided  not  to  break  the  journey  till  she  arrived 
at  Lucknow. 

As  she  entered  the  former  kingdom  of  Oudh,  she 
could  see  in  the  richness  of  its  soil,  in  its  density  of 
population,  and  in  its  nearness  to  the  cooling  Him- 
alayas of  which  she  caught  glimpses,  reasons  enough 
for  the  magnificence  of  the  city  she  was  about  to 
visit. 

After  recovering  from  the  fatigue  of  the  journey, 
and  in  a  measure  from  the  exciting  experience 
through  which  she  had  passed  in  Delhi,  Margaret 
accompanied  the  Lucknow  missionaries  to  the  dif- 
ferent departments  of  their  successful  work.  And 
then,  as  one  after  another  of  them  could  find  time  to 
be  her  escort,  she  visited  the  immense  Imambara,  the 


420  SELF-GIVING. 

imposing  Kaiser  Bagh,  the  museum,  the  tomb  of 
Mohammed  Ali,  the  La  Martiniere  College,  and  the 
grave  of  General  Havelock  at  the  Alum  Bagh. 

But  her  special  interest  was  in  the  ruins  of  the  old 
Residency,  near  the  grounds  of  the  mission ;  and 
here  she  spent  an  hour  or  two  every  afternoon,  stroll- 
ing among  the  broken  walls  where  those  few  hundred 
English  men,  and  women,  and  children  suffered,  and 
fought,  and  died.  Each  time  she  went  to  the  tyk- 
hana,  or  cellar  rooms  where  the  sufferings  of  so  many 
women  and  children  were  ended,  and  to  the  adjoining 
cemetery  where  they  were  laid  to  rest,  and  to  the 
summit  of  the  watch-tower  where  brave  men  noted 
every  movement  of  the  enemy. 

As  Margaret  was  watching  the  sunset  from  that 
tower  the  evening  before  her  return  to  Agra,  and 
thinking  how  sweet  the  music  of  the  Highlanders 
must  have  sounded  when  first  it  reached  the  listeners 
on  that  look-out,  a  gentleman  joined  her  whom  she 
immediately  recognized  as  Doctor  Turnbull  of 
Bareilly,  the  widower  she  had  avoided. 

"  Miss  Kilburne,"  said  he,  "I  am  very  fortunate  in 
finding  you  alone.  I  learned  yesterday  from  our 
Lucknow  friends,  that  you  were  visiting  them,  and  I 
have  come  purposely  to  see  you.  At  the  house  they 
directed  me  to  the  Residency." 

"Yes.      Of  what  service  can  I  be  to  you  ? 

"  Of  the  greatest  service  in  the  world.  Over  a 
year  ago  my  home  was  broken  up,  and  ever  since 
I  have  been  good  for  nothing  as  a  missionary.  I 
cannot  preach,  or  teach,  or  write.  With  your  help, 
I  could  again  be  useful." 


MORE  HEROISM.  421 

"  Are  strong  men  so  dependent  upon  frail  women  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  after  they  have  learned  woman's  worth  as  I 
have." 

"  But  why  approach  one  whose  responsibilities 
already  are  crushing  her  ?  No,  Doctor  ;  it  is  not  for 
me  to  help  you  as  you  wish." 

u  I  beg  you  to  consider.  Large  reinforcements 
have  come  to  your  station ;  none  to  mine.  I  have 
two  children  without  a  mother;  since  Mr.  Litch- 
field's have  gone  you  have  no  longer  even  the  partial 
care  of  them.  You  know  the  importance  of  my 
work  ;  without  you  I  cannot  carry  it  on.  If  you  will 
not  come  to  my  heart  and  home,  I  must  drop  all  and 
go  to  America." 

"  Surely  that  would  be  better,  and  get  a  wife 
there." 

"  Have  you  not  one  word  of  encouragement  to  give 
me?" 

"  No  ;  positively,  no.  My  duties  are  plain,  and  do 
not  include  marriage.  Let  us  immediately  return  to 
the  mission,  with  no  farther  reference  to  this  subject." 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

FOUR  WEEKS   IN  PALESTINE. 

THE  railway  having  been  completed  through  to 
Bombay  since  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  arrived 
in  India,  they  sailed  from  thence  for  Port  Said, 
and  there  exchanged  steamers  for  Beirut. 

They  would  have  landed  at  Joppa,  but  it  was  nec- 
essary for  them  t*o  go  on  first  and  arrange  a  tempo- 
rary home  for  the  children  and  Huchi  at  Beirut.  It 
proved,  as  always,  that  the  little  hinderers  were  help- 
ers. The  two  days  lost  were  more  than  made  up  to 
them  by  a  surprising  number  of  facilities  which  the 
delay  threw  in  their  way. 

Mission-life  in  Beirut  was  found  to  be  very  differ- 
ent from  that  in  India,  or  from  that  they  had  met 
years  before  in  China  and  Japan.  There  was  doubt- 
less the  unrefined,  repulsive,  Asiatic  side  to  it,  but 
the  outside  superficial  view  was  very  European,  very 
cultured  and  luxurious,  and  certain  to  mislead  the 
casual  traveller.  The  visitors  knew  that  the  literary 
and  educational  work  centring  here,  and  especially 
the  distribution  thence  of  the  Arabic  Bible  over  the 
entire  Moslem  world,  were  a  cause  for  any  mission 
society's  pride,  and  for  the  gratitude  of  the  whole 


FOUR  WEEKS  IN  PALESTINE.  423 

Christian  Church ;  but,  as  on  the  second  day  after 
landing,  they  were  talking  over  the  situation  in 
the  Damascus  diligence,  Cleora  remarked : 

"  I  am  more  persuaded  than  ever  that  we  were  right, 
Llewellyn,  in  taking  account  of  the  impressions  of 
travellers  in  erection  and  furnishing  of  all  our  Agra 
buildings.  Then  when  my  property  came,  and  we 
could  have  indulged  in  so  much  display,  I  am  glad 
we  did  not." 

Richly  they  enjoyed  the  ride  over  Lebanon,  and 
the  day  spent  among  the  bazaars  and  gardens  and 
homes  of  Damascus.  They  caught  also  glimpses  of 
Bedouin  life,  and  on  return  were  surprised  with  a 
distinct  view  of  Cyprus. 

Restful  over  the  boarding  arrangement  for  the 
children  and  their  nurse,  they  took  the  steamer  for 
Joppa,  where  they  first  tried  their  new  saddles  on 
horses  hired  by  their  hotel-keeper  for  the  day's  jour- 
ney to  Jerusalem. 

One  of  the  four  weeks  had  now  passed.  A  second 
was  assigned  to  Jerusalem  and  vicinity ;  and  never 
were  six  working-days  more  rilled  with  sight-seeing, 
or  a  succeeding  Sunday  of  rest  more  welcome. 

At  their  hotel  they  spent  very  few  minutes  of  day- 
light, always  carrying  a  noon  lunch  with  them. 
While  they  went  through  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  visited  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the 
Via  Doloroso,  the  tombs  upon  Mount  Zion,  the 
Mosques  of  Omar  and  Aksa,  the  Kedron,  the  Pool 
of  Siloam,  and  many  other  interesting  localities,  they 
enjoyed  most   climbing  Mount  Olivet,  and  from  its 


424  SELF- GIVING. 

summit  leisurely  taking  in  the  entire  scene  as  one 
whole.  Thus  they  were  not  being  imposed  upon  by 
credulous  monks  and  guides,  for  the  general  features 
of  hill  and  valley,  and  sky,  and  distant  waters  and 
mountains  were  the  same  as  when  Christ  lived  here 
among  men. 

Two  days  were  spent  on  an  excursion  to  Bethlehem 
and  Hebron.  A  company  of  English,  Scotch  and 
Americans  from  the  hotels  and  the  encampments 
around  the  city  was  made  up,  and  while  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Litchfield  were  very  glad  to  join,  they  decided 
from  this  little  experience  to  arrange  to  go  inde- 
pendently northward  through  Samaria  and  Galilee. 

From  the  incense-smoking  Grotto  of  the  Nativity 
at  Bethlehem  they  retreated  in  a  few  moments,  leav- 
ing their  curious,  credulous  relic-seeking  companions 
among  the  Armenian,  Greek  and  Latin  devotees,  and 
upon  a  neighboring  hillock  reflected  upon  the  glori- 
ous fulfilment  here  of  prophecy  and  promise  in  the 
birth  of  the  Saviour,  whose  Gospel  it  was  their  life- 
work  to  proclaim  in  India.'  Nor  were  they  forgetful 
of  the  associated  names  of  David,  and  of  Boaz  and 
Ruth.   ' 

At  Hebron  they  were  not  admitted  to  the  Mosque 
that  covers  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  or  even  to  approach 
the  entrances  of  the  surrounding  wall.  Moslem 
fanaticism  would  not  allow  them  the  privilege  of 
seeing  the  burial-place  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  and 
of  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  and  of  Leah,  not  even  though 
the  party  offered  to  pay  several  pounds  bakhshish. 
It  was  a   privilege,  however,   to  look  at  the  site  of 


FOUR  WEEKS  IN  PALESTINE.  425 

the  well  identified  cave  ;  to  see  the  extensive  vine- 
yards around,  and  the  olives  and  the  fig-trees  and  the 
pomegranates,  as  they  were  in  those  ancient  times, 
when  the  patriarchs  lived  and  labored  in  this  vicinity. 

By  a  slight  detour  on  the  return  route  from  Hebron 
to  Jerusalem,  having  had  good  opportunity  for  dis- 
tant views  of  the  River  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea,  as 
also  having  seen  their  valley  and  the  mountains 
beyond  repeatedly  from  Olivet,  they  did  not  delay 
for  the  second  usual  excursion,  but  immediately 
arranged  for  the  two  weeks'  tour  to  the  North,  along 
other  paths  so  often  trod  by  the  sacred  feet  of  their 
Divine  Master. 

Arrangements  were  made  with  a  dragoman,  who 
was  well  recommended,  to  provide  horses,  tents  and 
everything  to  Beirut,  at  four  English  pounds  per 
day.  Expecting,  notwithstanding  the  recommenda- 
tions and  this  generous  compensation,  that  they 
would  be  subjected  to  numerous  impositions  by  their 
guide  and  protector,  they  encountered  them  day  by 
day  very  philosophically,  and  thus  did  not  allow  them 
to  spoil  their  pleasure. 

Glancing  back  once  more,  and  for  the  last  time, 
they  bade  farewell  to  Jerusalem  from  Mizpah.  Then 
on  through  Bethel  and  Shiloh  to  the  Vale  of  Shechem. 
On  past  Samaria  and  the  plains  of  Dothan  and  Esdra- 
elon,  with  Gilboa  on  the  right  and  Carmel  on  the 
left. 

At  Nazareth  they  lingered,  not  in  "  Mary's  kitchen," 
or  "Joseph's  workshop,"  or  beside  "Christ's  dining- 
table,"  but  it  was  pleasure  to  sit  near  that  same  foun- 


426  SELF-GIVING. 

tain  where  Jesus  must  have  drawn  water  for  years, 
to  walk  about  the  narrow  valley  where  most  of  his 
earthly  life  was  spent,  and  upon  the  neighboring 
western  hill  study  a  scene  second  only  in  interest 
throughout  the  world  to  that  from  Olivet. 

A  ride  upon  the  Sea  of  Galilee  ;  glorious  views  of 
snow-crowned  Hermon  ;  a  visit  to  the  ruins  of  Caper- 
naum, Bethsaida  and  Chorazin,  and  then  a  rapid 
march  over  ancient  Phoenicia,  returned  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Litchfield  to  Beirut  just  in  time  to  pick  up  the  little 
waiting  bundles  of  babyhood  and  blessed  bother,  and 
to  take  the  next  French  steamer  for  Marseilles. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

ADDRESSING   CHURCHES   AND  PUBLISHING  A  BOOK. 

ON  return  to  America  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield 
were  feeling  and  looking  remarkably  well. 
Flesh  and  color  had  come  to  their  cheeks  and  to 
those  of  the  children,  and  all  seemed  quite  them- 
selves again,  when  they  landed  in  New  York.  The 
greetings  were  not  all  cordial. 

"  Why,  how  soon  you  have  returned !     It  cannot 
be  over  four  or  five  years  since  you  went  to  Africa." 
"  To  India,  you  mean  ;  and  it  is  nearly  ten  years." 
"  Well !     It  could  not  have  been  poor  health  that 
sent  you  home." 

"We  are  very  much  better  ;  quite  well  now." 
"  Very  expensive  carrying  missionary  families  back 
and  forth." 

But  not  all  greetings  were  of  this  pattern.  Some 
appreciated  their  work  and  need  of  rest,  and  talked 
with  them  intelligently  and  cordially.  Especially  were 
the  returned  missionaries  glad  to  meet  the  venerable 
senior  secretary  of  the  American  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  Doctor  Hart  well,  to  hear  his  sincere  welcome, 
and  assurance  that  their  explanations  as  to  late  un- 
favorable rumors  were  entirely  satisfactory. 

427 


428  SELF-GIVING. 

"Oh!-  Mr.  —  all  —  Litchfield  ! "  exclaimed  the 
junior  or  home  secretary,  King,  "let  me  see  you  a 
moment.  During  your  absence  there  have  been  some 
very  ungrateful  efforts  to  remove  me  from  my  position. 
I  hope  you  will  not  allow  the  little  differences  we  have 
had  in  our  judgments  to  lead  you  to  give  any  encour- 
agement to  my  enemies.  And  it  is  said  you  are  in- 
tending to  stay  at  home  now,  and  desire  my  place." 

"O,  Doctor  King,  this  thought  has  never  entered 
my  head.  My  only  ambition  for  a  year  now  is  to 
help  you  in  every  way  I  can.  What  do  }tou  want  me 
to  do  ?  " 

"  Better  keep  quiet  as  much  as  possible.  If  in  a 
gratuitous  way  you  stir  around  very  actively,  you  will 
reflect  upon  the  ordinary  services  of  the  salaried  ex- 
ecutive officers.  Perhaps  I  can  arrange  some  appoint- 
ments for  you  in  four  or  five  months.  While  in 
America  I  should  invite  you  to  visit  me  a  day  or  two, 
but  my  wife  is  not  in  perfect  health,  and  "  — 

"  O,  Doctor  King,  I  am  so  glad  to  see  }'ou ! "  ex- 
claimed Cleora  as  she  entered.  "  Years  have  not 
changed  you  very  much,  though  with  so  much  work 
on  your  hands.  We  have  not  come  home  to  be  idle, 
but  to  help  you  all  we  can.  If  we  could  only  kindle 
a  fire  of  mission-interest  in  fifty-two  ministers  and 
churches,  as  many  as  there  are  weeks  in  this  year,  it 
would  be  glorious  !  " 

Home  for  as  much  time  as  was  possible  was  made 
witli  Mrs.  Lyddell  in  Boston.  Llewellyn  visited  his 
own  mother  in  Philadelphia,  but  her  continued  inap- 
preciation  of  his  work,  and  her  urgency  that  he  should 


ADDRESSING  CHURCHES.  429 

take  his  wife's  capital  now  and  settle  in  business  and 
have  a  grand  home,  repelled  him  from  where  he  would 
most  naturally  have  lingered. 

As  several  weeks  passed  and  no  appointments  were 
made  by  Doctor  King,  the  returned  missionaries  took 
the  matter  into  their  own  hands.  With  the  informa- 
tion they  had,  the  love  for  the  cause,  and  the  health 
and  vigor  God  had  restored  to  them,  they  felt  they 
must  uge  their  tongues  and  their  pens,  even  though 
their  activity  and  its  possible  results  might  reflect 
upon  Secretary  King,  and  awaken  his  displeasure  and 
hostility. 

Scores  of  letters  were  at  hand,  inviting  Mr.  Litch- 
field to  deliver  missionary  addresses.  Few  contained 
postage  stamps,  and  fewer  still  made  mention  of  even 
railway  expenses.  Several  promised  him  the  collec- 
tion, whatever  it  might  be,  while  two  said  they  would 
divide  with  him,  since  there  would  be  their  own  inci- 
dental expenses  for  lighting  and  warming  the  house. 

A  number  of  pastors  were  very  urgent  in  their  let- 
ters of  application,  as  they  were  called  away  over 
Sunday;  and  it  was  plain  they  wanted  a  supply  that 
would  cost  them  nothing.  Likewise  several  pastor- 
less  churches  were  evidently  trying  to  strike  a  sharp 
bargain  to  save  their  money  at  the  expense  of  the 
missionary's  appropriation,  and  clothes,  and  strength, 
and  time. 

"A  missionary  field  indeed,"  thought  Llewellyn,  as 
he  planned  out  a  number  of  tours  upon  these  appli- 
cations. Postals  were  immediately  returned  from 
many  places,  urging  him  to  change  their  appointments 


430  SELF-GIVING. 

to  the  first  Sunday  evening  of  the  month.  A  leading 
New  York  pastor  replied  that  lie  must  withdraw  the 
invitation  unless  Mr.  Litchfield  could  be  present  at 
the  regular  missionary  conceit,  as  it  would  be  unwise 
to  divert  the  people's  minds  twice  during  the  same 
month. 

A  deacon  in  Ohio  sent  the  added  request  that  the 
missionary  bring  along  a  trunk  full  of  idols  to  show 
the  people,  promising  to  meet  him  at  the  depot  with 
his  own  team  so  as  to  save. him  the  local  express. 

Two  of  the  ministers,  whose  pulpits  he  had  agreed 
to  fill  in  their  absence,  added  the  suggestion  that  he 
preach  to  their  people  a  regular  sermon  in  the  morn- 
ing, leaving  the  mission  talk  for  the  second  service. 

A  church  in  Rhode  Island  requested  that  he  should 
not  use  any  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey  hymns. 

From  but  three  places  out  of  fifty  was  he  promised 
the  return  of  travelling  expenses,  and  from  but  one 
was  a  generous,  nay,  not  generous,  but  honest  pledge 
of  pay  for  incidentals  also,  and  a  few  dollars  over. 

By  the  pastor  of  a  New  Jersey  church  he  had  been 
announced  for  the  following  Sunday  as  one  who  had 
labored  for  half  a  century  among  the  Japanese. 

But  when  the  Reverend  Doctor  saw  what  a  young 
man  Mr.  Litchfield  was,  and  learned  that  his  experi- 
ence had  been  only  among  some  Indian  tribes  in 
Southern  Asia,  he  said  that  as  he  had  himself  spoken 
that  year  on  the  North  American  Indians,  he  thought 
it  best  to  preach  his  usual  sermon  in  the  morning, 
abbreviating  a  little,  so  as  to  give  the  missionary  a  few 
moments  at  the  close. 


ADDRESSING  CHURCHES.  431 

Those  few  moments  told,  and  the  people  came  in 
unusually  large  numbers  to  hear  Mr.  Litchfield  in  the 
evening. 

"  May  I  ask  for  a  collection  for  our  Mission  Society 
at  the  close,  Doctor  Smith?  " 

"  Oh,  no  !  Our  people  would  not  like  it  at  all. 
We  have  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  debt  on  our 
house." 

On  reaching  the  pastor  of  a  Pennsylvania  church, 
who  saw  the  missionary  pay  himself  the  fifty  cents 
hack-hire,  and  then  made  him  walk  a  mile  to  the  house 
of  a  poor  widow  woman,  where  "it  would  be  more 
convenient,"  the  Reverend  Doctor  said  : 

"  I  am  very  much  embarrassed  by  this  engagement. 
A  glorious  revival,  the  first  one  in  ten  years,  has 
broken  out  in  my  church  the  past  month.  Two  have 
been  converted,  and  three  are  asking  for  prayers. 
Now  I  am  afraid  your  mission  subject  will  dissipate 
these  tender  impressions.  Please  speak  very  briefly, 
so  that  I  can  follow  you  with  an  exhortation  calcu- 
lated to  lead  their  minds  back  to  the  subject  of  the 
salvation  of  souls." 

In  six  months,  by  crowding  in  work  between  times, 
Mr.  Litchfield  had  a  little  book  ready  for  the  press, 
entitled,  The  People  and  Religions  of  India. 

One  publisher  objected  to  it  as  a  purely  mission- 
work.  People  did  not  want  to  be  informed  upon  the 
subject. 

Another  said  he  was  ready  to  invest  in  the  book, 
for  it  was  very  interesting  and  instructive,  but  must 
insist  upon  a  change  of  title  —  must  be  shorter. 


432  SELF-GIVIXG. 

"  All  right,"  replied  the  missionary  ;  ';  call  it  The 
Binds." 

"  Good  as  to  brevity.  But  I  want  more,"  insisted 
the  publisher  ;  "a  complete  blind  as  to  the  subject  of 
the  book,  as  Jack  Straws,  or  Thumbs  Up,  or  Oak  Fil- 
ings. People  will  buy  to  solve  a  riddle,  who  care 
nothing  for  the  book." 

Mr.  Litchfield  tried  again,  and  successfully,  with 
his  own  chosen  title.  He  believed  in  dealing  frankly 
and  honestly  with  the  buying  public.  The  result, 
after  careful  proof-reading,  was  in  some  respects  very 
disappointing.  A  number  of  typographical  errors  re- 
mained, and  even  a  few  inexcusable  faults  in  style 
had  slipped  through  unnoticed. 

The  periodicals  of  all  the  other  Mission  Societies  in 
America  and  Great  Britain  kindly  passed  with  hardly 
a  notice  these  blemishes  so  usual  in  first  editions,  tak- 
ing for  granted  they  would  receive  the  author's  im- 
mediate attention,  and  praised  and  recommended  the 
book  in  the  most  cordial  terms.  But  the  Monthly 
Record  of  his  own  Society,  conducted  by  Secretary 
King,  had  the  most  scathing  possible  criticism  of  the 
style  and  statistics  of  the  book,  and  a  most  bitter 
fling  at  the  unacknowledged  ability  of  the  author. 

Mr.  Litchfield  felt  surprised  and  hurt,  but  made  no 
reply.  He  continued  to  work  for  the  cause,  and  to 
say  everything  kindly  and  in  an  excusing  way  of  the 
secretary.  In  the  almost  unanimous  commendation 
of  the  press  he  found  enough  to  reconcile  himself  to 
jealousy  and  bitterness,  so  utterly  unfounded  and  un- 
necessary. 


ADDRESSING  CHURCHES.  433 

As  the  missionary  tyro  in  literature  went  from 
place  to  place  he  found  that  large  numbers  of  his 
books  were  being  sold.  But  it  was  strange  to  see 
how  many  of  his  personal  friends  were  waiting  to 
borrow  of  others.  In  Pittsfield  many  spoke  of  the 
book  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  scores  were  anxious 
to  read  it ;  but  all  must  take  their  turn  with  the  sin- 
gle copy  in  the  Sunday-school  library. 

At  the  May  meetings  in  Baltimore  that  year  Mr. 
Litchfield  was  requested  by  Secretary  King,  as  directed 
by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  to  be  one  of  three 
to  occupy  an  evening.  He  was  assured  there  would 
be  no  other  addresses  delivered,  and  yet  a  fourth  was 
introduced  without  any  notice  to  him,  besides  other 
exercises  requiring  extra  time  and  condensation. 

As  he  was  speaking,  and  reporting  from  India  more 
frankly  than  had  the  secretary  in  print,  and  travers- 
ing the  ground  of  the  home  responsibility  for  mis- 
sions, the  spirits  of  jealousy  and  bitterness  again  took 
possession  of  Doctor  King,  and  noting,  with  the  chair- 
man, that  the  proposed  time  had  been  occupied,  he 
urged  the  pliable  figure-head  to  put  the  speaker  down. 
It  was  done  in  a  very  ungracious  way,  and  the  secre- 
tary chuckled  over  the  increased  chances  of  his  mor- 
row's reelection,  for  which  none  had  labored  harder 
than  his  foolishly  supposed  rival. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

MRS.    LITCHFIELD   AT   WOMEN'S   MEETINGS. 

IT  was  very  much  harder  and  far  more  expensive 
for  the  missionary  wife  than  for  her  husband,  to 
go  tramping  over  the  country  visiting  and  speaking 
for  the  cause.  He  could  say  }res,  and  on  ten  minutes' 
notice  throw  his  broadcloth  suit  and  a  change  of 
linen  into  his  satchel  and  be  off.  But  she  must  begin 
to  think  and  plan  in  many  directions  ;  as  to  the  care 
of  the  children,  what  they  shall  eat  and  wear,  as  to 
what  should  be  done  in  case  of  sickness,  as  to  the 
mending  and  freshening  of  her  own  garments  since 
the  last  week's  wear  and  tear,  and  dust  and  perspira- 
tion, as  to  the  necessary  shopping  for  self  and  fam- 
ily during  the  absence,  and  as  to  packing  away  in 
the  smallest  possible  space  her  best  silk  suit  with  all 
its  accompaniments,  so  as  to  avoid  the  necessity,  if 
possible,  of  taking  along  a  trunk. 

At  first  Mrs.  Litchfield  did  not  make  much 
account  of  incidental  expenses,  thinking  that  if  half 
the  time  her  railway  fare  was  refunded,  she  would 
contribute  the  balance. 

But  in  less  than  two  months  her  new  travelling  and 
speaking    suits,    with    all    their    "  fixings,"    and   her 

434 


MRS.  LITCHFIELD  AT  WOMEN'S  MEETINGS.     435 

bonnet  and  hat,  and  the  two  dozen  kid  gloves  she 
bo u glit  in  Paris,  and  other  things,  which  usually  last 
women  from  four  to  eight  times  as  long,  were  too 
shabby  for  public  use.  To  keep  replacing  at  her  own 
expense,  even  if  she  could  afford  it,  she  concluded 
was  not  right.  It  would  occasion  invidious  compari- 
sons, and  draw  censure  upon  salaried  executive 
officers  of  the  Women's  Mission  Societies,  whose  pay 
and  incidentals  must  take  everything  into  account. 
If  she  had  money  to  give,  she  must  give  as  others 
give ;  and  when  she  worked,  she  must  work  as  others 
work,  making  others  bear  their  full  share  of  incidental 
expenses.  Although  not  so  serious  a  matter  with  her 
husband,  she  thought  Secretary  King  was  partly  right 
in  discouraging  his  gratuitous  mission  labors  at  home, 
and  in  avoiding  any  reference  and  endorsement  of 
them  in  his  annual  report,  and  the  society's  periodicals. 

But  what  should  she  charge  for  incidentals,  in 
addition  to  money  paid  railways  and  other  public 
conveyances?  It  surprised  and  worried  her  very 
much  to  figure,  because  the  result  was  so  far  in 
excess  of  the  usual  judgment  of  people,  and  would  be 
quite  certain  in  the  opinion  of  many  to  mark  her  as  a 
money-grasping,  worldly-minded  woman. 

Pier  calls  averaged  a  distance  from  home  of  two 
hundred  miles.  Such  a  trip  usually  took  the  time 
and  strength  of  four  days,  with  two  nights  in  sleep- 
ing-cars, or  their  equivalent  expense.  In  Boston  she 
used  the  street-cars  or  her  mother's  carriage,  but  at 
her  destinations  in  the  strange  cities  she  had  generally 
to  hire  hacks.     Thus  she  reckoned  :  — 


436  SELF-GIVING. 

To  200  miles  distance  average  R.  R.     .        .        $10.00 

To  sleeping-cars  two  nights,  and  porter's  fees,  3.20 

To  carriage  hire,     .        .                 ...  1.00 

To  street-cars, .12 

To  lunches  en  route, .50 

To  extra  care  of  children,      ....  4.00 

To  postage  and  stationery,     ....  .25 

To  one  pair  of  kid  gloves,      ....  1.35 

To  rusche  for  neck  and  sleeves,     ...  .50 

To  l-20th  cost  of  travelling  suit,  ($25.00)     .  1.25 

To  l-20th  cost  of  speaking  suit,  silk,  ($50.00)  2.50 

To  l-20th  cost  of  hat  and  bonnet,  ($7.00,  $3.00)  .50 
To  l-20th  the   cost  of  shoes,    satchel,    shawl, 

umbrella,  neckties,  and  other  wear,  ($10.00)      .50 

To  one  telegram, .25 


Total  incidental  expenses,     $25.92 

Total  incidental  expenses  for  average  200  miles 
distant  missionary  meeting,  over  railway, 
carriage  and  street  cars,  .        .        .  $11.60 


Lest  Mrs.  Litchfield  had  overestimated,  and  to 
make  it  an  even  amount,  she  decided  to  require 
where  it  could  evidently  be  afforded,  the  promise  of 
ten  dollars  for  incidentals,  in  addition  to  the  expense 
of  public  conveyances.  For  shorter  distances  she 
Usually  mentioned  half  that  sum  ;  and  when  she 
went  as  far  as  Chicago,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis,  she 
merely  suggested  that  more  would  be  needed  to  cover 
her  necessary  incidentals. 

Of  course  many  good  people  felt  very  much  scan- 
dalized. 

"  What  are  we  coming  to  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Deacon 
Jones  of  New  Haven,  as  she  replied  to  Mrs.  Litch- 
field, without  enclosing  a  postage  stamp,  and  promis- 


MRS.  LITCUFIELD  AT  WOMEN'S  MEETINGS.      437 

ing  her,  if  she  would  come  unconditionally,  she  might 
take  up  a  collection  for  herself. 

"  O  dear !  the  heathen  world  can  never  be  con- 
verted, if  missionaries  are  to  be  so  selfish,  so  actuated 
by  mercenary  motives  !  "  declared  the  rich  Mrs.  Doc- 
tor Gray  of  Washington,  as  she  glanced  over  the 
answer  to  her  request  that  Mrs.  Litchfield  come  and 
speak  at  a  union  meeting  in  her  husband's  church, 
where  she  could  incidentally  so  advertise  Mr.  Litch- 
field's new  book  as  to  more  than  cover  all  expense. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  my  darling?  "  asked  Deacon 
Lessing,  a  wealthy  iron  manufacturer  of  Pittsburg, 
as  his  wife  returned  weeping  from  an  afternoon's 
drive  behind  his  five  thousand  dollar  span  of  blood- 
horses. 

"  Boo,  hoo !  I  have  lost  my  faith  in  missionaries. 
They  are  regular  Shylocks.  After  all  we  have  done 
for  the  cause  —  more  than  five  dollars  every  year  since 
we  were  married  —  I  thought  I  might  ask  one  favor  of 
the  mean,  niggardly  set.  I  wrote  Mrs.  Litchfield  of 
Boston  to  come  on  here,  and  help  pay  off  our  debt 
for  the  new  vestry  carpet,  and  there  is  the  letter. 
Just  read  it  !  " 

And  there  were  many  other  strange  requests  to 
which  Cleora  had  to  reply. 

A  New  York  lady  living  in  a  Fiftli  Avenue  palace, 
begged  her  to  excuse  any  offer  beyond  railroad-fare, 
as  the  treasury  of  their  society  was  empty. 

An  Indianapolis  plea  came,  that  as  she  was  to  pass 
through  on  her  way  to  St.  Louis,  and  would  need 
rest  for  so  long  a  journey,  she  stop  off  a  night,  and 


438  SELF-GIVING. 

address  a  union  meeting  of  several  hundred  women, 
adding  that  probably  some  one  would  see  to  it  that 
she  was  not  put  to  any  expense  for  food  and  lodging. 

"  If  you  can  arrange  for  a  woman's  meeting  with 
some  other  church  in  Vermont,  so  as  to  divide  your 
railroad  expenses  with  us,  we  shall  be  ver}'  glad  to 
have  you  come  and  talk  to  crfir  sisters,  and  rouse  them 
on  missions,"  was  in  one  letter,  with  the  added  re- 
quest, that,  as  so  few  of  them  felt  willing  to  pay 
twenty  cents  per  year  for  the  mission  paper,  Mrs. 
Litchfield  should  write  them  once  a  month,  while  she 
was  at  home,  a  good  long  account  of  interesting  tours 
in  India  to  be  read  to  the  society. 

The  secretary  of  a  woman's  circle  in  Michigan 
wrote  that  they  would  like  to  hear  her,  but  they  were 
conscientiously  opposed  to  paying  anything  for  home- 
work in  the  cause  of  missions.  Their  own  collector 
had  worked  now  for  seven  years  without  any  compen- 
sation. 

From  the  President  of  the  Glenwood  Association 
Cleora  received  the  following  generous  and  moving 
appeal  : 

"  We  shall  have  thousands  at  our  summer  resort  this 
year.  There  is  no  place  like  it  in  all  the  land  for  glo- 
rious scenery,  good  air,  and  rest.  If  you  will  come 
and  address  a  meeting,  you  will  have  several  hundred 
miles'  ride  through  the  most  picturesque  part  of  our 
country,  and  meet  here  hundreds  of  ministers  and  their 
wives.  You  will  have  no  such  opportunity  for  an 
"  outing  "  in  America.  We  will  pay  half  of  your 
railroad  fare." 


MRS.  LITCHFIELD  AT  WOMEN'S  MEETINGS.      439 

-  "  Of  course  you  would  be  shocked  if  we  should  be 
so  inconsiderate  as  to  suggest  money  considerations," 
continued  another.  "  For  us,  all  this  is  a  labor  of 
love.  How  the  blessed  Lord  must  look  down  with 
joy  upon  services  which  are  rendered  freely,  without 
money  and  without  price." 

Mrs.  Litchfield's  monthly  account  for  mission  post- 
age and  stationery  in  her  home  vacation  work  was  as 
follows : 

To  average  of  five  letters  per  day  postage        .  $4.50 

To  writing  paper 1.50 

To  envelopes .35 

To  postals 3.00 

Total  expense  per  month        .        .        .      $9.35 
Credit  of  average  of  one  three  cent  stamp  per 

day  enclosed  in  letters  of  application   .        .  .90 

Net  total  expense $8.45 

For  the  year  ......        $101.40 

As  Mr.  Litchfield's  postage  and  stationery  cost  him 
as  much  more,  the  total  of  over  two  hundred  dollars 
was  one  quarter  of  Ids  vacation  salary  allowance. 

After  an  all-night  and  all-day  ride  from  Boston, 
Cleora,  in  response  to  one  of  these  exhilarating  invi- 
tations of  impecunious  love  for  the  cause,  reached 
Buffalo  at  nine  in  the  evening.  No  one  met  her,  and 
as  she  was  looking  around  for  a  possible  messenger,  a 
coarse,  blear-eyed  ruffian  grossly  insulted  her.  For- 
tunately an  acquaintance,  a  New  York  merchant,  who 
was  passing,  recognized  her,  and  offered  to  escort  her 


440  SELF-GIVING. 

to  the  home  of  the  lady  with  whom  she  had  corre- 
sponded. They  found,  it  a  large  mansion  on  Delaware 
avenue. 

Mrs.  Klyn  had  not  returned  yet  from  a  party,  but 
her  estimable  young  lady  daughter  said  she  believed 
her  mother  had  made  some  arrangements  somewhere 
else  to  keep  her  until  she  had  gone. 

"  You  can  come  in,  and  sit  down,  and  wait,  if  you 
want  to." 

"  Thank  you." 

"  There  is  a  rug  to  wipe  your  feet ;  suppose  you 
have  been  walking." 

14  Thank  you  ;  we  had  a  carriage." 

"  Ah  !  the  gentleman  was  very  kind.  Suppose  you 
have  not  had  anything  to  eat  ?  " 

"  No  matter ;  I  can  go  to  a  restaurant." 

"  Wait,  I  will  call  down-stairs.  Bridget !  Bridget ! 
Are  there  any  more  scraps  on  that  ham-bone  ?  " 

The  New  York  merchant,  who  had  been  too  angry 
to  speak,  finally  at  this  exploded  : 

"I  insist,  Mrs.  Litchfield,  now,  upon  conducting  you 
to  the  best  hotel,  and  to  the  best  suite  of  rooms  it  can 
furnish  you,  as  my  guest.  In  half  an  hour  I  will  have 
as  good  a  dinner  for  you  as  Buffalo  can  furnish  on 
call  at  ten  o'clock  at  night." 

That  moment  Mrs.  Klyn  entered. 

"  I  beg  pardon,  Mrs.  Litchfield ;  I  should  have  left 
word  here  that  Mrs.  Gleason  on  Main  street  is  expect- 
ing you.  You  better  hurry  over  there,  as  probably 
she  is  keeping  supper  waiting.  Only  a  mile  •  you  can 
walk  it  in  twenty  minutes." 


MRS.  LITCUFIELD  AT  WOMEN'S  MEETINGS.      441 

A  moment  after  the  door  had  closed  upon  this  de- 
lightful experience,  the  gentleman  hailed  a  carriage, 
and  saw  Mrs.  Litchfield  to  her  place  of  entertainment, 
lingering  a  few  moments  to  assure  himself  that  it  was 
real  hospitality,  and  not  imposition. 

Near  midnight  the  weary  traveller,  who  was  to  ad- 
dress two  meetings  on  the  morrow,  was  shown  her 
room. 

"  When  you  retire,"  said  the  hostess,  "you  must 
not  blow  out  the  gas,  but  turn  it  off  in  this  way." 

"  Yes.     Thanks." 

"  And  when  you  want  water  for  washing,  you  turn 
the  faucet,  thus." 

"  Yes.     Thanks. 

At  Milwaukee  she  was  allowed  to  pay  express  on 
her  trunk  both  from  and  to  the  depot. 

"  I  should  not  allow  it,"  observed  the  wealthy  law- 
yer from  whose  house  she  was  going,  "  only  I  know 
your  expenses  are.  already  arranged  for  in  some  way 
by  the  missionary  cause." 

She  was  in  this  city  two  nights  and  for  five  meals, 
and  she  was  passed  around  to  four  different  places  so 
as  to  divide  the  burden  of  entertainment. 

The  women's  anniversary  this  year  was  held  in 
Baltimore,  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  was  to  be  the  principal 
speaker,  addressing  at  least  twice.  All  the  best  and 
most  convenient  places  of  entertainment  were  eagerly 
seized  by  the  executive  officers  and  state  secretaries, 
and  the  missionary  was  assigned  to  Milville,  a  manu- 
facturing suburb  five  miles  distant  —  over  an  hour 
upon  the  street-cars. 


442  SELF-GIVING. 

A  very  large  congregation  of  ladies  greeted  her  at 
a  union  meeting  in  Portland,  but  the  mil  listers'  wives 
appointed  to  the  opening  devotional  exercises  thought 
it  was  the  best  time  they  might  ever  have  to  exhibit 
themselves.  So  one  read  sixty  verses  of  Scripture, 
another  prayed  twenty-five  minutes,  and  the  other 
gave  out  three  hymns,  each  six  verses  long.  Conse- 
quently the  time  was  all  consumed  before  Mrs.  Litch- 
field began.  The  moment  she  closed,  such  a  stampede 
took  place  as  made  the  collection  of  only  enough  ac- 
count to  pass  over  to  the  sexton  for  his  extra  work. 
So  here  Cleora  did  not  receive  even  a  cent  toward  her 
expenses.     But  the  president  thanked  her. 

The  rain  fell  in  torrents  all  the  day  of  her  meeting 
in  Syracuse.  There  were  only  twenty  in  the  congre- 
gation, and  the  collection  was  two  ten  cent  pieces, 
eight  fives,  and  ten  ones  —  total,  seventy  cents.  They 
generously  passed  over  the  whole  amount  without 
any  deductions.  But  she  caught  a  severe  cold  not- 
withstanding the  warmth  of  the  cordiality.  And 
when  in  three  days  she  was  able  to  leave  for  home, 
the  physician  deducted  ten  per  cent,  from  his  nine  dol- 
lar bill,  because  she  was  a  missionary. 

As  she  was  taking  the  train,  a  gentleman  slipped 
two  dollars  into  her  hand  for  sleeping-car  expense, 
saying : 

"  I  know  you  to  be  a  missionary,  and  beg  you  to 
accept  this  for  accommodation  to-night,  as  a  token  of 
my  regard  for  your  work/' 

A  letter  followed  her  to  Boston  from  the  treasurer 
of  the  Syracuse  mission-circle,  asking  her  to  receipt 


MRS.  LITCHFIELD  AT  WOMEN'S  MEETINGS.     443 

the  collection  and  any  sum  that  was  given  her  at  the 
depot.     No  postage  stamp  accompanied  the  request. 

She  sent  receipt  for  two  dollars  and  seventy  cents. 

When  the  meeting  closed  in  Harrisburg,  the  treas- 
urer said  : 

"  Now,  please  give  me  an  itemized  account  of  all 
your  expenditures." 

"  Realty,  I  will  not  have  time  now.  The  train  is 
due  in  fifteen  minutes.  I  wrote  your  secretary  on  this 
subject.  I  have  four  other  meetings  this  week  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  thought  it  about  fair  to  divide  thirty- 
eight  dollars  equally  among  you  all." 

"  Then  that  makes  seven  dollars  and  sixty  cents  ; 
all  we  owe  you.  Are  you  sure  that  is  all?  Well,  I 
cannot  quite  make  change.  But  here  are  seven  dol- 
lars and  seventy-five  cents.  If  you  have  not  the  fifteen 
cents,  you  can  send  them  sometime  to  me  in  a  letter." 

At  Reading,  one  of  those  other  four  places,  there 
were  a  number  of  ladies  present  from  other  denomina- 
tions, and  those  in  charge  therefore  felt  too  much  deli- 
cacy to  ask  for  the  expected  collection.  There  was 
no  money  then  at  the  close  to  balance  account,  but 
she  was  assured  the  next  time  she  came  they  would 
do  something  very  handsomely  for  her. 

Unfortunately,  upon  a  railway  in  Iowa  Cleora's 
trunk  was  lost.  There  were  no  baggage  checks  for  the 
village  where  she  was  to  stop,  so  the  trunk  was  simply 
marked,  and  some  rascal  availed  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity.  It  was  a  great  loss,  but  when  the  ladies  of 
that  association  had  their  next  quarterly  meeting,  they 
sent  her  a  unanimous  vote  of  sympathy. 


CHAPTER   XLV. 

MAINTAINING    THE    STATUS    QUO. 

N'EVER  was  a  fort  held  more  bravely  than  the 
situation  of  the  Agra  mission,  as  the  Litch- 
fields  left  it,  by  Margaret  Kilburne.  Not  Miltiades 
upon  the  plain  of  Marathon,  nor  Leonidas  in  the  pass 
of  Therm opylse,  nor  Luther  before  the  Diet  at  Worms, 
displayed  greater  heroism  than  this  single  woman- 
missionary  in  the  effort  to  retain  at  least  every  advan- 
tage gained,  and  be  ready  for  advance  when  the  rest- 
ing forces  should  rally  again  to  the  front. 

Only  in  part  did  she  succeed,  for  the  difficulties 
were  too  great.  Two  faithful  missionaries  cannot 
leave  their  field  for  even  a  year  without  serious  tem- 
porary embarrassments  to  the  work,  and  if  their 
absence  is  protracted  over  a  second  year  the  calamity 
is  irreparable. 

The  week  following  her  return  from  Lucknow,  a 
letter  came  from  Bareilly,  with  the  familiar  hand- 
writing on  the  envelope  of  Reverend  Doctor  Turnbull, 
but  it  was  not  addressed  to  Miss  Kilburne. 

As  Miss  Kate  Rivington  was  the  owner,  Margaret 
wondered  if  the  venerable,  gray-haired,  spectacled, 
toothless  widower  wanted  to  get  her  companion  to 

444 


MAINTAINING  THE  STATUS  QUO.  445 

intercede  for  him,  since  his  own  utter  failure  at  the 
Residency. 

The  reader  made  no  explanation,  hut  was  evidently 
quite  flustered.  She  got  her  Hindi  badly  mixed  with 
the  natives,  forgot  to  put  on  her  pith  hat  as  she 
crossed  to  the  school-house,  and  so  came  near  sun- 
stroke, and  winding  her  watch  the  wrong  way,  broke 
the  main-spring. 

Margaret  noticed  her  re-reading  that  same  letter 
several  times,  and  wondered  what  could  make  the 
"  go-between  "  so  studious.  She  did  not  dream  that 
disappointed  affections  could  so  quickly  centre  upon 
another. 

"  Of  all  the  missionaries  I  have  met  in  India," 
observed  Kate  one  evening  as  she  broke  a  half-hour 
re  very,  "  I  admire  Doctor  Turnbull  the  most.  And 
I  do  not  see  what  people  mean  when  they  call  him 
old." 

"  He  must  be  sixty  !  "  remarked  the  laughing-eyed, 
mouth-twitching  Margaret. 

"  Nonsense  !  but  somewhere  between  forty  and 
fifty  ;  and  men  of  his  style  at  forty  are  quite  as  young 
as  I  am.  His  whiskers  are  gray,  but  the  hair  on  his 
head  is  as  black  as  mine." 

"  It  is  a  wig." 

"  Ah  !  then  it  is  because  he  has  been  a  great  student 
and  is  very  prematurely  bald.  Frankly,  he  wants  me 
to  marry  him.  He  says  he  feels  good  for  nothing,  but 
that  with  my  help  he  may  again  be  useful.  If  I  do 
not  consent,  he  must  return  immediately  to  America, 
and  all  his  important  work  indescribably  suffer." 


446  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Exactly  what  he  said  to  me  last  Tuesday,"  Mar- 
garet wanted  to  sa}^,  but  she  did  not.  The  arrow 
hud  evidently  entered  the  heart,  and  the  wound  was 
fatal. 

On  return  from  seeing  the  happy  couple  off  at  the 
railway-station  two  months  later  Margaret  found  the 
Litchfield  dwelling  on  fire. 

How  it  caught,  no  one  could  tell.  Whether  it  was 
the  hasty  preparation  for  the  wedding,  or  careless- 
ness in  the  kitchen,  or  the  pipe  that  Doctor  Turnbull 
was  smoking  on  the  veranda  while  the  other  mission- 
aries were  eating  the  frosted  cake  and  the  bride  was 
closing  her  trunks,  or  some  native  had  committed 
arson,  it  was  impossible  to  conclude.  Nothing  was 
saved.  All  Mr.  Litchfield's  library  as  well  as  her 
own  was  gone  ;  all  the  furniture,  and  every  article  of 
Margaret's  wardrobe  except  what  she  had  been  wear- 
ing at  the  wedding. 

Mr.  Lindsey  and  his  Miriam,  whose  nuptials  were 
to  be  celebrated  the  coming  autumn,  were  very  help- 
ful to  Margaret  in  this  double  extremity.  The  fair 
Eurasian  by  extra  work  almost  filled  the  place  of  the 
departed  bride.  And  Mr.  Lindsey,  apparently  now  a 
sober,  virtuous,  and  reliable  Christian  kindly  offered 
to  take  all  the  care  of  the  rebuilding. 

"  I  find,  Miss  Kilburne,  that,  as  the  walls  are  good, 
the  building  can  be  restored  for  two  hundred  pounds. 
I  can  contribute  half ;  I  wish  I  could  all." 

u  Perhaps  a  mysterious  Providence  meets  right 
here  your  generous  offer,  Mr.  Lindsey.  Several 
weeks   ago    I   received   an   anonymous    letter  from 


MAINTAINING  TUE  STATUS  QUO.  447 

Chicago,  enclosing'  a  draft  to  my  order  on  London 
for  a  hundred  pounds.  I  cannot  identify  the  hand- 
writing, but  I  have  my  suspicions,  and  am  reluctant 
to  use  the  money.  But  here  is  a  necessity ;  I  will 
endorse  it,  and  you  may  proceed  with  the  building. 
May  God  reward  you  for  your  work  and  sacrifice  ! " 

"  Ah !  Miss  Kilburne,  before  I  commenced  this 
new  life  of  consistency  with  my  old  religious  profes- 
sion in  England,  I  spent  much  more  time  and  money 
in  sin.  The  Litchfields  and  you  came  to  the  heathen, 
but  God  sent  you — and  Miriam  to  me." 

Doctor  Dunbar  did  not  believe  in  women-physi- 
cians, and  felt  that  Miss  Kilburne  had  unsexecl  her- 
self by  administering  quinine  to  fever-patients  and 
applying  porous  plasters  to  weak  backs.  His  horror, 
when  lie  found  that  the  hospital-knives  and  saws 
had  actually  been  used  in  a  case  of  amputation,  was 
equalled  only  by  his  chagrin  to  have  Margaret's 
successful  surgery  followed  by  three  fatal  cases  of 
gangrene  under  his  more  scientific  manipulation. 
Whenever  Margaret  spoke  to  his  wife,  he  looked  as 
if  lie  thought  a  moral  pestilence  was  threatening  the 
sanctities  of  his  home. 

But  poor  health,  the  angel  that  has  really  or  nom- 
inally sent  home  and  out  of  the  way  many  impracti- 
cable and  unamiable  missionaries,  necessitated  Doctor 
Dunbar's  return  to  America,  and  the  hospital  was 
again  on  Margaret's  hands. 

As  there  were  foii/y  in-door  patients,  and  scores 
calling  daily  at  the  dispensary,  she  must  have  help, 
since  already  she  was  overwhelmed  with  work. 


448  SELF-GIVIXG. 

A  Doctor  Price  of  Calcutta  was  recommended  as  a 
Christian  physician  who  had  lately  arrived,  and  who 
desired  to  combine  missionary-work  with  a  living 
practice  ;  and  so  he  was  installed  on  a  three  months' 
trial. 

But  deaths  began  to  multiply  at  the  hospital,  and 
strange  doings  were  reported  from  the  dispensary 
among  the  natives.  In  one  day  seven  corpses  were 
removed.  Some  said  the  new  doctor  had  opened  a 
barber-shop  ;  others  that  he  believed  only  in  using 
physic ;  and  still  others  that  he  was  going  to  set  fire 
to  the  building,  and  was  himself  preparing  to  die. 

It  was  that  same  fatal  day,  a  messenger  announced 
that  the  Agra  native  pastor,  Saroop  Singh,  was  dying 
at  the  hospital.  Margaret  rushed  over,  and  found 
Doctor  Price  kneeling  at  the  side  of  the  unconscious 
man,  pouring  oil  upon  his  head,  and  praying. 

"Why,  Doctor  Price,  what  are  you  doing?  " 

"  What  Saint  James  told  us  to  do."' 

"  No,  you  are  not !  By  c  anointing  with  oil '  he 
meant  the  right  kind  of  medicine  and  care  first  of 
all,  and  then  prayer.  Get  up  off  of  }'our  knees  here  and 
help  me.  This  dear  man's  life  is  too  valuable  to  lose 
on  any  such  nonsense.  I  see  it  is  a  case  of  opium- 
poisoning.     How  long  has  he  been  asleep?  " 

"  Only  a  few  moments.  But  a  little  more  oil  and 
prayer  will  surely  awaken  him,  and  cure  him 
immediately." 

w-  Wake  him  up  in  Heaven  in  half  an  hour,  you 
idiot !  " 

Already   she  had  dashed  two  cups  of  cold  water 


MAINTAINING  THE  STATUS  QUO.  449 

upon  the  unconscious  head  and  chest,  and  her  finger 
was  in  the  throat  endeavoring  to  excite  vomiting. 

"Nurse,  run  for  the  mustard  and  some  warm  water ! 
Doctor,  hurry  to  your  office,  and  bring  the  stomach 
pump! 

"That  is  right,  nurse.  Now  call  four  men  from 
the  press  to  walk  this  man,  and  to  slap  his  hands 
and  feet  and  body.  Why  does  not  the  doctor  bring 
the  pump  ?  " 

"  He  went  to  praying  as  I  came  with  the  mus- 
tard." 

In  a  moment  Margaret  had  run  to  the  office, 
seized  the  pump,  and  was  emptying  the  almost  mur- 
dered man  of  the  fatal  poison.  The  enforced  walking 
and  the  vigorous  slapping  woke  him  in  a  few  minutes, 
and  in  one  hour  he  was  out  of  danger. 

"  I  knew  it  would  be  so,"  said  the  doctor,  as  he 
arose  from  his  knees  :  "  I  will  send  word  immediately 
of  this  remarkable  '  healing  '  by  the  *  prayer  of  faith  ' 
to  my  pastor  in  Chicago,  who  is  writing  a  book  on 
the  subject." 

With  the  same  vigor  with  which  she  had  attended 
to  the  other  case  of  poisoning,  and  exercising  her 
special  authority  over  the  hospital-premises,  Margaret 
saw  that  hobby-riding  religious  fanatic  vanishing 
bag  and  baggage  in  twenty  minutes,  and  then 
returned  to  the  cot  of  Saroop  Singh,  endeavoring 
there  and  at  all  the  other  cots  of  the  several  wards  to 
mingle  common  sense  with  prayer,  and  the  use  of 
the  proper  remedies  with  faith  in  God. 

Margaret  and  the  Litchfields,  however,  were  not 


450  SELF-GIVING. 

prepared  to  affirm  that  all  miraculous  healing  of  the 
sick  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  faith  belonged  to  the 
past.  Yet  all  instances  under  their  own  observation, 
or  which  were  reported  by  native  Christians,  and 
which  seemed  to  deserve  consideration,  were  under 
circumstances  where  it  was  utterly  impracticable  to 
make  use  of  the  proper  instrumentalities. 

To  the  kindred  subject  of  demoniacal  possessions, 
and  the  exorcism  of  those  thus  afflicted,  their  atten- 
tion was  frequently  drawn.  They  believed  in  the  lit- 
eral interpretation  of  God's  word,  and  that  they  had 
not  had  to  come  to  India  to  meet  those  who  were  not 
only  under  the  ordinary  power  of  Satanic  corruption 
and  temptation,  but  also  specially  and  completely 
overborne  by  spirits  of  evil.  But  the  manifestations 
of  demoniacal  possessions  were  frequently  found  by 
them  in  the  heathen  world  to  be  specially  demonstra- 
tive, in  that  the  sufferer's  personality,  will  and  reason, 
were  lost,  and  that  the  mental  and  physical  symp- 
toms were  peculiarly  distressing. 

The  missionaries  felt  that  these  features  of  pos- 
session, so  strange  to  them,  though  so  familiar  to  the 
people,  were  fresh  evidence  of  the  mercy  of  God,  as 
to  those  in  the  time  of  Christ,  in  revealing  beyond 
the  light  of  Scripture,  a  measure  of  the  condition  and 
peril  of  man.  And  they  rejoiced  to  find  the  evil  still 
subject  to  the  power  of  Christ,  as  exercised  through 
converts  from  heathenism  and  their  missionary  asso- 
ciates, and  that  thus  incidentally,  as  guided  by  the 
wisdom  of  divine  Providence,  their  evangelizing  work 
was  materially  assisted. 


MAINTAINING  THE  STATUS  QUO.  451 

Two  items  of  interest  at  this  time  occurred  in 
connection  with  one  of  the  other  Agfa-missions.  A 
3roung  lady  had  been  educated  and  sent  from  Eng- 
land with  mission  money.  A  generous  outfit  had 
been  provided  by  friends  of  the  cause.  But  in  pass- 
ing through  Calcutta,  a  government  clerk  proposed, 
and  no  proposition  followed  the  hasty  marriage  to 
reimburse  the  society. 

After  the  death  of  another  of  the  same  mission,  his 
widow  returned  to  Scotland,  broken  completely  in 
heart  and  health.  For  two  years  she  drew  from 
the  treasury  the  most  liberal  allowances  she  could 
command,  by  persistent  applications,  dressed  as  fash- 
ionably as  possible,  and  when  the  secretaries  were 
expecting  her  to  return  to  Agra,  she  surprised  them 
with  simply  her  wedding  cards,  inviting  to  reception 
at  her  own  home  on  Bedford  Square,  London. 

Despite  Miss  Kilburne's  protests  and  entreaties, 
Mr.  Fowler  and  Mr.  Wightman  so  secularized  the 
Theological  School,  that  several  students  were 
tempted  away  to  government-instruction  or  employ- 
ment. And  never  was  a  letter  more  gladly  received, 
than  the  one  which  told  Margaret  the  Litchfields  were 
to  sail  in  the  next  steamer. 


CHAPTER  XL VI. 

DISTURBING   HOEXETS'    NESTS. 

WHEREVER  there  are  flowers  the  bees  will 
gather.  Through  afield  of  clover  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  go  without  stumbling  upon  nests  of  the 
various  stinging  insects,  which  feed  on  honey  and  give 
others  pain.  Fortunately  their  furious  buzzing  usually 
comes  before  their  severe  wounding,  so  that  the  pedes- 
trian forewarned  is  forearmed,  and  rarely  has  he  to  do 
more  than  to  quicken  his  pace,  or  move  back  a  few 
steps,  or  make  a  short  detour. 

So  the  Litchfields  found  it  in  the  clover  fields  of 
the  home-Christianity.  Almost  every  week  as  they 
moved  through  the  country,  they  stumbled  upon  peo- 
ple who  lived  indeed  upon  the  sweets  of  the  Gospel, 
and  were  storing  up  precious  grace  and  experience 
for  the  future,  but  who  were  very  sensitive  to  dis- 
turbance, and  very  dexterous  at  stinging  others.  A 
few  times  the  missionaries,  though  always  trying  to 
exercise  that  discretion  which  is  the  better  part  of 
valor,  were  unable  to  escape  the  danger.  The  sting, 
indeed,  was  never  fatal,  but  it  was  always  painful  for 
the  moment,  and  for  some  time  after  an  annoying 
irritation. 

452 


DISTURBING  HORNETS'  NESTS.  453 

One  of  these  experiences  Mr.  Litchfield  encoun- 
tered in  the  editorial  office  of  the  Baltimore  Censor. 
The  editor  of  this  able  and  widely  read  paper  had 
some  weaknesses,  notwithstanding  his  many  elements 
of  strength.  Keenly  critical,  he  came  to  indulge  the 
conceit  that  he  had  the  right  to  monopolize  criticism. 
Any  minister  or  editor  who  should  venture  into  the 
tournament,  except  at  the  call  of  this  proudly  plumed 
knight,  must  face  the  sharp  point  of  his  skilful  lance. 
Right  or  wrong,  there  must  be  no  failure  to  pay  hom- 
age to  his  assumed  monopoly  of  criticism.- 

"What  presumption  !  "  he  exclaimed  as  he  entered 
his  office  the  morning  after  hearing  Mr.  Litchfield 
venture  upon  calling  in  question  two  or  three  meth- 
ods of   mission  work  in  the  home  administration. 

"  Unheard-of  insolence  !  and  that,  too,  in  my  very 
presence  ! "  and  his  great  arm-chair  threatened  to 
shake  to  pieces  with  his  indignation. 

"  I  want  a  clerk  to  examine  the  files  of  the  Balti- 
more Censor,  to  see  if  editorially  I  have  ever  uttered 
such  and  such  sentiments. 

"  I  thought  not.  Then  I  will  unhorse  the  dastardly 
intruder  in  a  moment.  What  the  young  upstart  has 
said  must  be  sheer  nonsense,  or  beyond  any  question 
I  would  have  thought  of  it  before  he  was  born. 

"  There;  that  will  do.  Nothing  now  will  be  left  of 
the  insolent  missionary  who  dares  to  turn  from  teach- 
ing Hindus  to  teaching  me.     Copy  ! 

"  No  ;  wait.  I  forgot.  Is  Mr.  Litchfield  a  sub- 
scriber? I  thought  not.  Then  he  deserves  to  be  an- 
nihilated." 


454  SELF-GIVING. 

Another  nest  of  hornet  people  which  Mr.  Litch- 
field disturbed  was  in  Pennsylvania,  and  made  up  of 
worshippers  of  the  missionaries  of  past  generations. 

44  Carey,  Marshman,  and  Ward.  Oh,"  said  one, 
"if  we  could  only  have  such  missionaries  now  !  " 

u  Yes  ;  and  Henry  Martyn,  and  Duff,  and  Wilson," 
observed  another ;  "  but  alas,  they  have  no  succes- 
sors ! " 

"  Indeed,  Mr.  Litchfield,"  inquired  still  another, 
"  what  do  you  think  would  be  the  condition  of  the 
mission  work  in  India  to-day,  if  you  had  for  co-la- 
borers such  as  Doctor  Adoniram  Judson  and  Mrs. 
Ann  H.  Judson  ?  " 

"  The  same  as  at  present,"  was  the  frank  reply. 

But  all  the  eyes  in  the  room  around  him  rolled 
bewildered  toward  the  ceiling.  There  was  gasping 
and  catching  of  breath.  Several  spectacles  fell  to 
the  floor. 

"  But,  Mr.  Litchfield  missionaries  now  frequently 
err  in  judgment." 

"  So  did  Doctors  Carey  and  Duff  and  Judson." 

No  one  spoke  for  several  moments.  Such  an 
expression  was  almost  as  bad  as  blasphemy.  One  man, 
who  bore  the  name  of  an  honored  missionary,  and  who 
might  have  been  lost  in  the  crowd  but  for  his  white 
feather,  moved  over  to  the  window  where  he  could 
get  more  air,  for  he  felt  faint.  Another,  whose  face 
was  pale  and  red  by  turns,  broke  the  silence,  b}T  — 

"  I  hope  Mr.  Litchfield  will  remain  in  America." 

44  At  least,"  observed  another,  44  till  he  has  learned 
to  honor  the  dead." 


DISTURBING  HORNETS'  NESTS.  455 

Up  in  Vermont  Mrs.  Litchfield  encountered  a  clus- 
ter of  vacationed  missionaries,  who  had  settled  down 
very  comfortably  upon  the  pension  lists  of  their 
Societies,  and  the  added  incomes  of  their  pastorates 
and  farms.  One  of  the  brethren  had  candidated 
during  vacation  in  over  twenty  pulpits  unsuccessfully. 
Pie  had  loudly  protested  against  only  twelve  hundred 
dollars  and  a  house  as  a  missionary's  salary,  but  he 
had  tried  even  one  thousand  dollar  churches  in  vain. 
All  the  four  families  had  been  home  two  years,  and 
though  in  answer  to  the  urgent  letters  of  the  secre- 
taries, they  replied  with  many  protestations  of  desire 
to  completely  recover  health  and  return  to  their  work 
among  the  heathen,  it  was  evident  to  Cleora  that  one 
of  the  missionaries  and  his  wife  at  least  had  no  more 
expectation  of  seeing  the  shores  of  Africa  again  than 
of  going  to  the  moon. 

Especially  as  the  brother's  church  was  abundantly 
able  to  assume  his  entire  support,  Cleora  felt  so  indig- 
nant at  his  continued  monthly  drafts  upon  money 
given  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  that 
she  made  bold  to  enter  a  kindly  protest. 

But  it  was  not  at  all  kindly  received.  Stinging 
replies  and  insinuations  followed  in  quick  succession. 
She  could  be  no  true  friend,  and  could  have  no  gen- 
uine missionary  spirit.  All  social  attentions  were 
withdrawn,  and  many  of  the  slanders  which  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Litchfield  met  in  the  coming  months  and  years, 
were  traced  back  to  the  resentment  felt  in  that  Ver- 
mont village. 

Much  of  the  blame,  however,  attaching  to  these 


456  SELF-GIVING. 

returned  missionaries,  she  concluded,  was  from  the 
example  of  the  Vermont  State  Secretary,  who  resided 
in  the  same  place.  He  had  done  good  work,  and 
was  receiving  a  large,  but  none  too  large  a  salary  for 
such  services.  For  a  number  of  years,  however,  it 
had  become  painfully  evident  that  he  had  outlived 
his  usefulness.  Many  had  realized  it,  and  made  bold 
to  express  their  judgment.  A  larger  number  were 
still  silent,  hoping  that  he  would  see  it  for  himself, 
and  not  bring  the  inevitable  cloud  upon  his  record. 
But  counting  on  the  continuation  of  his  income  for 
several  years  more,  he  had  purchased  a  number  of 
shares  in  a  Rhode  Island  manufactory  establishment, 
and  he  declared  he  must  hold  on  despite  all  the 
alleged  interests  of  the  cause,  or  he  would  become 
involved  in  ruinous  financial  embarrassments. 

Sometimes  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  stumbled  upon 
clusters  of  people  whose  practical  interest  in  missions 
was  limited  to  criticism  of  executive  officers  and  their 
salaries.  Then  again  they  would  meet  those  who  felt 
it  a  sin  to  send  missionaries  abroad,  when  they  are  so 
needed  at  home.  And  they  came  across  many  who 
had  taken  extreme  views  for  and  against  intrusting 
women's  societies  with  executive  responsibilities. 
All  those  nests  were  very  sensitive  to  disturbance, 
and  except  in  running  lively,  there  was  little  chance 
of  escape  from  being  stung. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE   CHILDREN   DIFFICULTY. 

THE  heaviest  load  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield 
carried  upon  their  hearts  during  their  year  in 
America,  was  the  possible  leaving  of  their  children 
behind  on  their  return  to  India.  Whenever  they 
went  away  from  Boston  to  address  meetings  through- 
out the  country,  or  even  when  going  out  shopping 
for  an  hour  on  Tremont  or  Washington  streets,  they 
gave  the  little  ones  an  extra  kiss  and  hug,  to  keep 
for  the  long  and  dreary  famine-years  that  might  be 
coming.  Often  their  eyes  would  turn  from  writing 
and  reading,  and  fasten  on  the  darling  forms  which 
might  soon  be  separated  from  them  by  oceans,  and 
which,  when  seen  again,  if  ever,  would  no  longer  be 
the  babes  of  father's  lap  and  mother's  arms,  but 
grown  to  manhood  and  womanhood. 

Prayerfully  and  thoughtfully  the  missionaries 
sought  to  be  led  with  regard  to  the  disposal  of 
these  precious  treasures  which  God  had  committed 
to  their  care.  Because  they  well  knew  there  were 
special  difficulties  in  the  way  of  rearing  their  children 
in  India,  they  did  not  become  oblivious  to  the  fact 
that   there   are   special   difficulties  also  in  America, 

457 


458  SELF-GIVING. 

and  therefore  assume  that  the  family  separation  must 
take  place  at  all  hazards. 

Mrs.  Lyddell's  rapidly  increasing  infirmities  made  it 
entirely  impracticable  for  her  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bility of  two  children,  eight  years  old,  until  they 
should  be  able  to  care  for  themselves.  Very  soon 
she  would  be  compelled  to  give  up  housekeeping, 
and  be  herself,  except  in  the  matter  of  money,  a 
burden  on  others. 

One  of  the  Mission  Societies,  whose  headquarters 
are  in  Boston,  had  established  an  admirable  home 
for  missionaries'  children  in  Auburndale,  and  another 
was  about  to  arrange  for  a  similar  institution  at 
Newton  Centre;  but  their  own  Society  had  not  yet 
given  any  attention  to  this  important  department 
of  mission  work. 

There  was  a  way  in  which  it  TOmld  have  been  very 
easy  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  to  have  disposed  of 
their  little  boy  and  girl.  She  could  have  drawn  upon 
her  own  funds  and  advertised,  and  been  overwhelmed 
with  applications.  And  many  of  those  ready  to  hire 
out  their  services  to  the  missionary  parents  would 
undoubtedly  be  as  good  substitutes  as  could  be 
found.  But  this  facility  did  not  satisfy  their  desire 
for  providential  leadership.  They  wanted  a  plainer 
path  than  the  attractions  of  Mr.  Lyddell's  money. 

UI  think,  Llewellyn,"  observed  Cleora  one  evening 
as  they  returned  to  the  library  after  an  extra  look 
into  the  little  cribs  which  were  drawn  up  on  either 
side  close  to  their  own  bed,  "  I  think  that  we  may 
seek,  and  watch,  and  wait  for  more   unmistakable 


THE  CHILDREN  DIFFICULTY.  459 

indications  of  our  Heavenly  Father's  will.  If  he 
wants  us  to  leave  them  in  America,  lie  can  inspire 
those,  whom  lie  may  select^,  with  sufficient  mission- 
interest  to  offer  to  relieve  us." 

"  Certainly  Cleora,  it  would  appear  very  differ- 
ently if  one  or  two  Christian  homes  should  open 
spontaneously  to  take  these  responsibilities  from  us 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause." 

"And  for  the  children's  own  sake  also.  I  would 
not  ask  more  than  hearts  tomched  by  God's  spirit 
with  such  measure  of  self-sacrificing  love  for  mis- 
sions, and  with  evident  appreciation  and  affection 
for  our  darlings.  Then  we  could  leave  them.  In- 
deed if  we  could  be  assured  of  such  opportunities 
one  or  two  years  hence,  I  would  linger  behind  you 
till  then." 

"  Yes,  that  also  might  be  best.  Yet  how  much  we 
have  seen  to  illustrate  the  embarrassments  arising 
from  the  separation  of  husbands  and  wives  in  their 
mission-work  upon  the  field." 

"But  the  3'ear  would  soon  pass,  and  I  have  faith 
that  God  would  rule  and  overrule  for  the  best.  Of 
course  if  any  suitable  persons  should  offer  to  take 
Juddie  and  Margie,  we  should  then  want  to  insist 
upon  paying  all  expenses:  but  not  as  inducement.'' 

There  was  a  little  restlessness  in  one  of  the  cribs, 
then  a  sobbing,  then  a  crying.  To  the  mother,  hast- 
ening into  the  room,  the  evidently  heart-broken 
Margie  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh,  dear  —  I  —  don't  —  want  you  —  and  papa  — 
to  go  home  —  and  leave  us  here  !  " 


460  SELF-GIVING. 

And  Juddie  waked  up,  and  commenced  crying 
too,  though  he  had  not  overheard,  as  his  sister,  the 
conversation,  and  only  felt  grieved  from  sympathy. 

"We  may  not  leave  you,  darlings.  We  thought 
you  were  both  asleep,  and  were  talking  by  ourselves 
of  what  God  may  ask  us  to  do." 

Up  went  Margie's  little  hands,  and  the  e}res  closed 
as  tightly  as  the  tears  would  let  them,  and  through 
her  quivering  lips  the  prayer  went  right  up  to 
"  the  hearer  and  answerer  :  " 

"  Dear  Jesus,  don't  take  my  mamma  and  papa 
away !  " 

"  He  sha'n't,  or  I'll  never  love  him  any  more  !  " 
screamed  Juddie,  as  he  shook  his  little  fists  toward 
the  ceiling. 

"  O,  Juddie,  that  makes  papa  feel  very  badly," 
said  Mr.  Litchfield,  entering,  and  sitting  beside  his 
crib. 

It  was  a  long  argument.  But  finally  the  children 
were  pacified  with  thoughts  of  Jesus'  love,  though 
the  little  boy  added,  as  he  said  good-night  again : 

"  He  must  not  take  mamma  and  papa  away,  any- 
how !  " 

Half-closing  the  door,  and  resuming  the  conversa- 
tion again  in  an  undertone  in  the  farther  corner  of 
the  library,  Mr.  Litchfield  said : 

"It  is  not  probable  that  children  have  been  given 
us  to  hinder  our  life-work  ;  and  if  it  seems  best  for 
us  to  carry  them  back  with  us  to  India,  I  believe 
they  will  continue  to  be  a  great  help." 

"  Yes,"  added  Cleora,  "  and  parental  care  is  per- 


THE  CHILDREN  DIFFICULTY.  461 

haps  a  full  offset  to  the  numerous  disadvantages  for 
rearing  children  in  heathen  lands." 

"  Then  I  have  thought,  dear,  that  the  knowledge, 
so  perfect,  which  our  little  ones  have  acquired  of 
Hindi,  ought  not  to  be  thrown  away.  If  they  are  to 
follow  us  as  missionaries,  the  coming  six  to  ten  years 
in  India  may  be  their  best  qualification." 

"  They  certainly  speak  the  language  more  like  the 
natives  than  we  do  ;  and  they  are  acclimated.  Their 
sister  had  not  their  constitution  ;  and,  oh  !  how  many 
children  are  buried  here  as  well  as  in  India." 

"  Then  there  are  our  Benares  friends,  who  have 
kept  their  children  with  them,  not  sending  them  to 
England  till  quite  grown  :  and  how  successful !  " 

"  Yes,  Llewellyn,  and  you  know  the  Gulick  family, 
all  reared  among  heathen;  yet  by  God's  blessing 
upon  faithful  missionary  parents,  all  the  six  or  seven 
children  are  now  themselves  missionaries." 

"  Our  Agra  home  will  not  be  the  light  it  has  been 
in  the  dark  surrounding  Hinduism,  if  the  children 
are  not  to  be  there." 

Returning  to  the  cribs,  Juddie  was  found  snoring, 
with  his  feet  on  his  pillow,  while  Margie  was  sob- 
bing and  laughing  in  her  sleep,  and  saying  in  Hindi, 
— "  Mamma —  me  —  papa  —  me  !  " 

With  other  children  also,  but  of  larger  growth, 
the  missionaries  had  difficulty.  Mr.  Litchfield  had 
visited  several  theological  seminaries,  and  his 
addresses  to  the  students  had  specially  interested  a 
goodly  number  of  young  men  of  the  graduating  classes 
in   India   and   other  mission  fields.     Five  expressed 


462  SELF-GIVING. 

earnest  desire  to  accompany  him  to  India,  and  were 
encouraged  hy  the  executive  officers  of  the  Society  to 
expect  immediate  appointment  upon  graduation. 
One  of  them  had  appeared  before  the  committee,  and 
been  accepted. 

But  they  all  failed  to  carry  out  their  brave 
intentions.  They  acted  like  children,  and  not  men  in 
Christ  Jesus.  They  endeavored  not  to  acknowledge, 
either  to  themselves  or  to  others,  that  they  were  too 
great  cowards,  as  the  hour  drew  near  to  take  their 
stations  far  out  on  the  picket  line  of  Emmanuel's 
army.  But  their  excuses  were  altogether  too  trans- 
parent for  general  deception. 

One  of  them  had,  subsequently  to  his  professed 
consecration  to  foreign  missions,  become  interested  in 
a  young  lady  of  no  special  sympathy  with  the  cause, 
and  he  hid  his  cowardice  behind  the  new  sentiment. 
Another  began  suddenly  to  show  a  very  child-like 
deference  to  the  feelings  of  his  parents.  After  all,  if 
they  did  not  want  him  to  go,  how  could  he  think  of 
it!  The  one  who  had  been  accepted,  received  a  four- 
thousand-dollar  call  to  a  Buffalo  pastorate  ;  and 
surely  this  was  of  the  Lord.  Strange  that  he  could 
before  have  been  so  mistaken  !  Another  had  been 
reading  a  book  on  China,  and  felt  unsettled  upon  the 
idea  of  going  to  India.  There  were  so  many  more 
heathen  in  China;  perhaps  four  hundred  millions, 
while  there  were  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
in  India.  He  really  must  wait  a  year  or  two  and 
decide  this  new  and  vastly  important  question.  And 
the  other  was  led  by  some  "faith"  literature  of  the 


THE  CHILDREN  DIFFICULTY.  463 

Perfectionist  School  to  question  whether  he  was  not 
being  guided  by  Mr.  Litchfield  instead  of  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  And  he  concluded,  finally,  that  he 
could  not  accept  the  advice  of  any  one,  nor  consult 
his  own  judgment.  God  must  mark  out  his  path 
without  any  human  instrumentality.  All  these 
childish  aberrations  were  very  trying  and  disappoint- 
ing to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield,  but  far  better 
that  the  lack  of  heroism  and  common  sense  should 
appear  in  America  than  at  the  front,  face  to  face  with 
the  vast  host  of  Hinduism. 


CHAPTER  XL VIII. 

LONDON  MILDMAY   CONFERENCE. 

BOTH  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield  were  profoundly 
grateful  to  God  that  their  return  to  India  in 
October  and  November,  1878,  enabled  them  to  spend 
that  memorable  week  in  England,  when  representa- 
tives of  Evangelical  Foreign  Missions  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  met  to  consider  their  position,  labors, 
and  prospects. 

They  were  merely  spectators,  except  in  the  social 
meetings.  To  the  Executive  Committee,  Secretary 
King  had  replied  that  he  would  be  happy  himself  to 
read  a  paper  upon  self-forge tfulness,  but  that  it  was 
undesirable  to  give  Mr.  Litchfield  the  prominence  of 
any  formal  report  upon  India.  The  anxiety  of  the 
secretary  to  figure  before  his  denomination  at  home 
as  their  grand  representative  at  this  Ecumenical  Coun- 
cil was  very  amusing. 

While  the  English  and  Scotch  societies  were  repre- 
sented by  strong  delegations,  and  there  were  able 
messengers  from  many  of  the  American  and  European 
missions,  the  general  attendance  was  net  equal  to  the 
interest  of  the  exercises.  The  grandly  successful 
labors  of  the  Executive  Committee,  under  the  chair- 

464 


LOKI  OX  W  COl  TERES  MB 

manship  of  Sir  W.  Muir,  K.  C.  S.  I.,  and  of  so  m 

_ 
sho:  ::oni  the 

L   ..Jon  churches,  .  owded  assemblies  at  all  the 

i  jnce  Ball  on  Mildmay  Park. 
If    ws  evident    that    wi:h    ••  inferences   of 

administration "  there  was  "one  spirit"  in  the  great 
work  of  wc:.  -  _  : .-.:ion.  There  was  a  general 
desire  for  such  i  -         its  and  menfs  as 

should    increase    the      _  \  power   beyond   the 

range  of  native  ehui  lished.      The 

ire     pap  the      "ten-minute 

spee  eek  full  of  information  and 

inspiration. 

As  the  Litchfiel  Is  I  Rev.  Dr.  Mullens  on 

the  Inc.  b  -    Missionary    Agenc 

they  felt  that  he        ■  _     ing  them  very  matured  f: 
but  could  not  anticipate  how  soon   the   noble   tree 
should  fall  in  Central  Africa. 
So  beau  rie  the  closing  words  of  this  lamented 

fore:_  London   S    aety,  that  L 

them  all  down  in  the  short-hand  of  his  col- 

••  The  missi  :i  service  is  the  noblest  thing 

which  human  life  can   offer.     Over  the   vast  field  ot* 

human  sin.  and  suffering,  and  woe,  we  move  forward 

in  the  name  of  Him  who  is  our  model  and  our 

ike  Him.  like  H::n  to  save,  the  souls  that  are 
_  I   -:.     Ti  the  slave,  the  idolater,  the 

followers  of 

gather  them  to  Him  who  only  can  heal  !  le  Phy- 

jmforte:  .:  he 


466  SELF-qiVING. 

shall  condescend  to  smile  on  our  labor,  and  to  say- 
as  he  accepts  both  us  and  them,  'Inasmuch  as  ye 
have  done  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  me.'  " 

While  specially  interested  in  Doctor  Underbill's 
able  paper  on  Emancipation  in  the  West  Indies,  Mr. 
Litchfield  could  not  agree  with  the  writer  in  crediting 
the  righteous  act  of  the  overthrow  of  the  wicked  and 
atrocious  system  of  slavery  to  the  humane  feelings 
of  the  British  Parliament  and  people. 

"  It  was  all  as  in  our  own  country,  Cleora ;  God 
overruling  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him." 

Reports  of  the  advance  into  Central  Africa,  espe- 
cially of  the  enterprise  of  the  Scotch  Free  Church  Mis- 
sion up  the  valle}'S  of  the  Zambezi  and  the  Shire*,  and 
upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa,  so  stirred  their 
hearts  that  they  almost  wished  Agra  was  at  Living- 
stonia. 

It  was  a  great  privilege  to  hear  directly  and  fully 
of  the  industrial  departments  of  the  Lovedale  and 
Blythswood  Institutions  in  South  Africa,  and  in  the 
discussion  following,  Mr.  Litchfield  would  gladly 
have  reported  upon  the  successful  printing  and  shawl 
experiments  at  Agra ;  but  his  note  of  request,  to  be 
recognized  by  the  chairman,  the  Earl  of  Cavan,  was 
referred  to  Secretary  King,  and  that  was  the  end  of  it. 

Naturally  the  Agra  missionaries  were  much  pleased 
at  the  endorsement  given  to  medical  missions, .  and 
they  thoroughly  agreed  with  Doctor  Lowe,  that  the 
true  position  of  the  missionary  physician  is  that  of  an 
evangelist. 


LONDON  MIL  DM  AY  CONFERENCE.  467 

As  Doctor  Clark  of  the  American  Board  closed 
his  glowing  report  of  the  results  achieved  between 
the  Balkans  and  the  Bosphorus,  and  between  the 
Bosphorus  and  the  Tigris,  Llewellyn  remarked  to 
his  wife  : 

"How  plainly  God  is  leading  American  Christians 
to  the  front  in  world  evangelization.  Evidently  our 
civil  and  religious  life  specially  qualifies  for  evangel- 
istic work  among  Moslems  as  well  as  among  Buddhists 
and  Hindus." 

They  were  very  proud  of  their  brother  missionary 
who  was  to  accompany  them  in  the  same  steamship 
after  the  meetings  —  Rev.  Mr.  Sherring,  of  Benares. 
His  paper  was  a  very  masterful  survey  of  the  growth 
and  position  of  Christianity  in  India. 

In  the  discussion,  after  Doctor  Mitchell  of  Edin- 
burgh, upon  the  S\rstems  of  Education  Pursued  in 
India,  Mr.  Litchfield  felt  as  if  he  must  participate,  and 
ventured  up  in  front  to  request  a  recognition  through 
Doctor  King.  But  the  secretary,  always  true  to  him- 
self at  least,  replied: 

"  If  you  have  any  suggestions  to  make,  I  will  make 
them  for  you.  You  are  on  your  way  to  your  work, 
which  is  exclusively  in  India.  I  came  across  the 
ocean  on  purpose  to  represent  our  denomination.  I 
could  not  help  your  interfering  so  much  with  my 
work  at  home,  but  here  I  can,  and  will." 

The  progress  of  Mahometanism  in  Dutch  India  was 
a  surprise,  as  also  the  opportunity  which  the  Malayan 
and  the  Polynesian  languages  give  to  evangelization. 

"  Doctor  Legge  is  right,"  observed  Cleora  to  her 


463  SELF-GIVING. 

husband  ;  "  none  but  remarkable  men  make  remarka- 
ble missionaries.  Yes,"  she  added;  "  after  Mrs.  Weit- 
brecht's  paper  on  the  Women  of  India,  we  should  begin 
to  ask  adequate  remuneration  for  instruction  given 
in  the  zenanas." 

It  was  encouraging  to  see  the  strong  ground  taken 
against  the  opium  curse  in  China.  Since  Mr.  Litch- 
field's life  in  Peking,  missions  had  evidently  been  mak- 
ing great  progress  throughout  the  vast  kingdom,  also 
in  Japan.  With  overflowing  heart  Cleora  listened  to  the 
reports  of  Christian  progress  since  with  her  mother 
she  rode  through  the  Tokaido  and  visited  the  Temple 
of  Kwanon,  in  Tokio,  and  wondered  if  ever  an  impres- 
sion could  be  made  upon  such  heathenism. 

The  Bible  work  of  the  various  societies,  aggregating 
thus  far  a  circulation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  copies  of  the  whole  or  parts  of  God's  Word  within 
the  previous  seventy-five  years,  seemed  bewilderingly 
vast. 

Rev.  Mr.  Sibree's  "  Ten  Minutes  in  Madagascar  " 
were  very  enjoyable,  with  their  proof  of  the  power  of 
the  Gospel. 

Special  impressions  were  made  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes' 
remarks  upon  mission  work  among  the  Afghans,  by 
Doctor  Jessup's  paper  upon  Syria,  and  by  that  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Brenan  upon  the  evangelization  of  the  Jews. 

At  the  closing  meeting  in  Exeter  Hall,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Litchfield  were  sure  they  should  never  forget  the 
address  of  Doctor  Punshon  on  faith  and  patience, 
and  that  of  Doctor  Clark  on  the  great  missionary 
movements  of  the  present  age. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

BENARES    CONFERENCE   OF   NATIVE   CHRISTIANS. 

IN  December,  1878,  the  annual  meeting  of  dele- 
gates from  the  Hindu  churches  throughout  the 
Northwestern  Provinces  and  Oudh,  Rajpootana,  and 
the  Indore  Agency,  was  held  in  the  Rome  of  India. 
It  was  a  union-meeting  of  the  native  Christians  asso- 
ciated with  all  the  various  mission  societies.     Though. 

o 

the  missionaries  came  under  different  auspices,  and 
held  different  opinions  upon  many  subjects  of  sec- 
ondary importance,  there  .was  thus  annually  presented 
to  the  surrounding  heathen  an  unbroken  Christian 
front.  The  effect  was  well  worth  all  the  trouble  and 
expense,  and  Mr.  Litchfield's  first  duty,  as  well  as 
pleasure,  on  return  to  Agra,  was  to  help  arrange  for 
the  Benares  Conference. 

Cleora  remained  with  the  children  in  Agra,  with 
hands  full  of  rearranging,  and  superintending  also 
the  placing  of  the  little  monument  they  had  brought 
from  America  for  the  grave  of  their  eldest  daughter, 
beside  the  beautiful  Taj.  Upon  the  tablet  was  room 
for  other  names.  God  only  knew  how  soon  it  would 
be  covered. 

The    day  after   the    arrival   from  Bombay    of   the 


470  SELF-GIVING. 

returned  missionary  family,  Margaret  was  summoned 
in  haste  to  Bareilly  to  the  sick  bed  of  Mrs.  Doctor 
Turnbull.  She  appeared  the  rather  as  if  she  needed 
a  physician  and  nurse  herself,  but  perhaps  she  might 
save  the  life  of  another.  And  she  did;  but  her 
month's  absence  left  Cleora  overwhelmed  with  work, 
and  yet  Llewellyn's  duty  for  a  fortnight  meanwhile, 
was  at  the  Conference. 

A  darker  background  for  the  bright  and  beautiful 
Christian  scene  could  not  be  found  in  India,  nor 
indeed  anywhere  else  throughout  the  heathen  world. 
The  Benares  ghauts  are  more  repelling  than  the 
Allahabad  mela,  in  that  the  bathings  are  in  the 
presence  of  such  a  multitude  of  obscene  Siva  tem- 
ples along  the  water's  edge.  The  grotesque  booths 
of  the  mela  are  not  so  revolting  as  the  Linga  and 
Yoni  shrines  of  the  ghauts. 

In  a  few  minutes,  after  changing  cars  at  Mogul- 
Serai,  Llewellyn  reached  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Ganges,  from  where,  and  as  he  crossed  the  bridge 
of  boats,  he  could  see  tens  of  thousands  of  Hindus 
"  washing  away  their  sins  "  in  the  muddy,  sacred 
waters.  Afterwards  he  watched  the  scene  with  sad 
interest  from  the  summit  of  one  of  the  lofty  mina- 
rets of  the  Mosque  of  Aurungze  be,  whence  also  he 
could  count  the  towers  of  a  thousand  Hindu  temples. 
And  then,  also,  he  had  a  nearer  and  more  satisfactory 
study  of  the  scene  from  a  boat,  in  which  he  was 
rowed  up  and  down  the  river  in  front  of  the  ghauts. 

Each  day  as  he  went  to  the  meeting,  he  had  to 
pass  the  Golden  and  the  Monkey  Temples.     In  the 


BENARES  CONFERENCE.  471 

former  he  saw  multitudes  worshipping  massive  stone 
representations  of  the  organs  of  lust ;  in  the  latter 
other  throngs  making  their  religious  offerings  to  hun- 
dreds of  filthy,  free  and  familiar  monkeys.  Many 
sacred  cattle  met  him  in  the  streets,  and  of  course  he 
must  turn  out  for  them,  since  they  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  make  way  for  anybody.  Such  inconven- 
ience was  rarely  now  to  be  encountered  in  Agra, 
nor  the  disgusting  bathing  and  besmearing  with  the 
holy  cattle-excrements  that  was  constantly  on  exhibi- 
tion in  Benares. 

The  Conference  was  held  in  the  mission-chapel  of 
the  London  Society.  Mr.  Litchfield  and  the  lamented 
Sherring  were  the  most  active  in  counselling  and 
arranging,  and  yet  they  studiously  kept  in  the  back- 
ground and  pressed  forward  the  native  clergy  and 
laity. 

Babu  Janvier  of  Allahabad  was  moderator,  and 
delivered  an  opening  address  of  great  merit.  He 
began  by  welcoming  to  "  the  Athens  of  India  "  "  a 
city  wholly  given  to  idolatry."  "  But  this  little  com- 
pany of  two  hundred  Christian  delegates,"  he  said, 
"  worship  not  to  us  '  an  unknown  God.'  v  He 
spoke  of  real  progress,  especially  among  the  multi- 
tudes who  had  ceased  to  be  idolaters  and  were  not 
yet  Christians.  Yet  this  could  be  a  cause  for  con- 
gratulation only  as  Christians  increased  their  efforts 
to  give  to  those  who  now  had  nothing  of  religious 
conviction  and  principle.  They  must  realize  with 
every  year  they  were  being  called  upon  to  encounter 
less  of  idolatry,  and  more  of  utter   religious   indif- 


472  SELF-GIVING. 

ference.  The  great  need  is  not  controversy,  but 
Christ-like  lives  and  clear,  simple  testimony  of  what 
we  know  of  the  Son  of  God. 

A  quartette  of  the  two  young  men,  Budha  Sing 
and  Dil  Sook,  and  the  two  young  women,  Jasodha 
Lai  and  Nabi  Baksh,  whom  Mrs.  Litchfield  had  long 
and  faithfully  drilled,  led  all  the  services  of  song. 
The  favorites  were :  "  Call  Jehovah  thy  salvation," 
"  In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  glory,''  and  the  popular 
bhajan,  "  Kyun  mana  bhula  lied  uih  sansara  ". 

Reports  were  given  from  scores  of  stations..  When 
they  were  plainly  encouraging,  as  from  Agra  and 
Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  there  were  prompt  prayers 
of  thanksgiving;  and  when  little  but  discouragement 
was  reported,  as  from  Benares,  Meerut  and  Jaipoor, 
thoughtful  native  Christians  were  ready  to  quote  the 
promises  in  trial,  and  to  suggest  hopeful  indications. 

One  was  absent  who  was  much  missed,  IIus- 
sain  Raza  Khan  of  Moradabad.  He  was  to  preach 
the  annual  sermon.  But  his  two  sons  had  died  the 
week  before,  and  to  him  the  Conference  sent  a  mes- 
sage of  sj-mpathy.  By  return  mail  the  following 
note  was  received  from  him,  and  read  by  the  native 
clerk,  Prem  Dass  of  Shahjehanpoor : 

Thanks  for  your  tender  sympathy.  I  cannot  say  more.  "  I  was 
dumb,  and  opened  not  my  mouth,  because  thou  didst  it."  "We  are 
indeed  bereaved.  We  do  not  understand  it;  nor  is  it  necessary 
that  we  should. 

'i  9  ^Thoroughly  prepared  addresses  were  delivered  by 
-Itifabted ^Sibgbiofi A%gtfrfl-<e&  ihb> Christian  Family; 


BENARES  CONFERENCE.  473 

by  Fazl  Haqq  of  Delhi,  on  Religion  in  Education ; 
by  Prabhu  Bnikla  of  Ajmere,,  on  the  Superiority  of 
the  Bible  to  the  Veclas  ;  by  Joa  Jummin  of  Futti- 
poor,  on  The  Unity  of  Christian  Evangelical  Denom- 
inations; by  Behare  Lai  of  Futtigurh,  on  Islam 
Weighed  and  Found  Wanting;  and  by  Gurdiyal 
Singh  of  Mirzapoor,  on  A  Native  Ministry.  Several 
of  these  addresses  were  equal  in  merit,  s  o  Mr.  Litch- 
field thought,  to  any  heard  at  the  Allahabad  Mission 
Conference  in  1872. 

A  Committee  of  three,  Gulab  Singh  of  Roy  Ba- 
reilly,  Zahur-ul-Haqq  of  Muttra,  and  Isa  Dass  of 
Naine?  Tal,  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  series  of 
resolutions,  expressive  of  the  appreciative  and  grate- 
ful feelings  of  the  native  Christians  to  the  mission- 
aries,  and  to  the  Christians  in  far-off  lands  who  sup- 
port them. 

At  the  general  prayer  and  conference  meeting  at 
the  close,  Sadu  Singh  of  Agra  spoke  eloquently  of 
the  joy  of  the  native  Christians  at  that  station  and  in 
many  surrounding  villages  at  the  return  of  their 
beloved  Litchfield  Sahib  and  his  wife  from  America, 
and  Jukkan  Lai  of  Allahabad  led  all  in  a  prayer  of 
thanksgiving,  which  touched  the  hearts  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  Llewellyn  felt  that  he  was  in  the 
Beautiful  Gate  of  the  Heavenly  Temple. 


CHAPTER  L. 

TOUR    OF   VILLAGES   IN   RAJPOOTANA. 

IT  was  very  evident  to  Mr.  Litchfield,  upon  his 
return  from  America  to  Agra,  that  while  the 
station-work  had  received  considerable  attention, 
there  had  been  special  neglect  of  the  outlying  vil- 
lages. With  the  exception  of  a  few  places  in  the 
immediate  vicinity,  none  had  been  visited  by  either 
of  his  colleagues  during  the  entire  year.  Miss  Kil- 
burne  repeatedly  urged  an  evangelistic  tour  of  at 
least  one  week,  but  Mr.  Fowler  felt  that  he  could 
not  leave  his  school  room,  and  Mr.  Wightman,  being 
of  a  very  domestic  temperament,  was  unwilling  to  be 
absent  from  his  beautiful  young  wife  for  any  con- 
siderable time. 

The  Benares  Conference  having  adjourned,  Mr. 
Litchfield  therefore  immediately  arranged  for  a  month 
of  itinerating  in  the  southwest  district,  across  the 
line  in  Rajpootana.  He  invited  the  senior  class  of 
the  theological  seminary  to  accompany  him,  quite 
certain  that  their  time  would  be  as  profitably  spent 
as  in  the  school  room:  and  though  his  home  attrac- 
tions were  Tully  equal  to  those  of  his  junior  col- 
league, he  did  not  allow  them  to  interfere  with  his 

474 


TOUR  OF  VILLAGES  IN  RAJk'OOTANA.  475 

duty  among  tho  most   lowly,  and  in  some  respects 
the  most  repelling  of  India's  millions. 

"I  am  convinced,  Cleora,"  observed  Llewellyn,  the 
evening  before  his  departure,  "  that  we  must  give 
more  attention  to  mission-work  among  the  village 
populations.  They  are  very  poor  and  ignorant,  and 
yet  they  have  not  the  moral  weakness  and  vices 
of  the  city.  Then  they  are  the  feeders  of  the  great 
centres  of  population.  Here  it  must  be  very  much  as 
in  America,  the  country  furnishing  to  the  cities  the 
majority  of  their  most  able  ministry  and  laity." 

"  It  is  very  evident  in  our  schools,  Llewellyn,  that 
the  boys  and  girls  from  the  humble  and  remote 
villages  do  the  best." 

"Yes,  and  that  is  why  I  shall  hasten  now  out 
of  our  immediate  neighborhood,  and  spend  most 
of  the  month  touring,  nearly  a  hundred  miles  away." 

The  "  Rhode  Island  bandy,"  drawn  by  its  yoke  of 
trotting  oxen,  carried  all  baggage,  tent,  provisions, 
cooking  utensils,  and  a  large  quantity  of  Bibles  and 
tracts.  Mr.  Litchfield  rode  on  horseback,  while  the 
eight  young  men  of  the  theological  class  went  afoot. 
The  students  attended  to  the  pitching  and  folding 
of  the  tent,  one  servant  to  the  horse  and  the  oxen, 
and  another  to  the  missionary's  food.  A  division  of 
labor  was  arranged  among  the  young  native  preach- 
ers. Mouni  Lall  led  the  singing  at  all  public  services. 
Sheo  Gliulam  had  charge  of  the  sale  of  Script- 
ures and  tracts.  Ram  Gopal,  the  eldest  student,  a 
married  man  of  unusual  dignity  and  wisdom,  followed 
the  preaching  of  the  missionary  by  conversing  with  the 


476  SELF-GIVING. 

native  women,  and  children,  while  Bihari  Lall  gave 
his  attention  at  these  inquiry  meetings  to  the  men 
who  had  been  persuaded  to  linger.  Ambiea  Charan 
with  Bhola  Singh,  and  Wazir  Dammar  with  Ghasi 
Ram,  made  two  independent  parties  to  work  in  the 
villages  along  the  way  which  the  missionary  could 
not  personally  visit. 

A  forced  march  of  three  days,  or  rather  three 
nights,  brought  this  little  and  heroic  band  of  Christ's 
soldiers  upon  their  immediate  field  of  operations  in 
Rajpootana.  The  villages  were  seldom  more  than 
three  miles  apart.  Mr.  Litchfield  held  a  service  each 
day  at  his  encampment,  and  also  tw#  others  that  same 
day  in  neighboring  villages. 

As  special  pains  were  taken  to  reach  those  communi- 
ties where  there  was  already  at  least  one  convert,  the 
arrangements  made  for  the  reception  of  the  mission- 
ary were  often  very  quaint  and  touching,  if  not 
elaborate  and  expensive.  A  booth  would  be  erected 
in  an  open  space  of  ground  with  poles  and  branches 
and  white  cotton  cloth,  and  the  floor  be  covered  with 
matting.  This  would  be  the  missionary's  pulpit,  the 
congregation  sitting  or  standing  around  in  the  open 
air  at  distances  depending  upon  their  interest  in  the 
preaching. 

Although  the  majority  of  these  little  congregations 
were  made  up  of  the  lowest  caste  people,  usually  a 
few  of  the  upper  ranks  would  linger  as  if  casually  in 
passing,  and  no  doubt  they  were  often  better  listeners 
than  they  appeared  to  be.  One  of  them  at  a  village 
near  Mangrole  made  his  way  through  the  crowd  at 


TOUR  OF  VILLAGES  IN  BAJPOOTANA.  477 

the  close  of  a  service,  and  salaaming  to  the  mission- 
ary, said  : 

"  Hear  me,  all  ye  people.  I  am  Har  Nam  Kunwar, 
brother  to  the  Rajah  of  Boondee.  From  social  reasons 
I  am  a  Hindu,  though  it  is  not  truth.  What  this  man 
sa\~s  is  truth.  I  will  give  him  fifty  rupees  for  books 
for  you.    You  can  afford  to.be  Christians.    I  cannot." 

The  great  man  redeemed  his  promise  and  moved 
away,  resisting  all  the  missionary's  urgency  that  he 
should  take  a  single  copy  of  God's  Word  with  him,  or 
linger  for  a  personal  interview. 

"  Your  Christ,"  said  he,  "  will  conquer  the  India  of 
the  future ;  but  I  belong  to  the  past.  My  position 
requires  selfishness  and  duplicity,  which  Christianity 
would  not  tolerate." 

"  May  I  not  write  to  you,  sir?  "  inquired  Mr.  Litch- 
field. 

"  No ;  except  on  business.  And  then  remember  I 
am  not  like  you,  to  be  trusted.  As  a  Hindu,  life  is 
with  me  a  game  of  chance,  and  I  take  advantage  of 
all  the  tricks." 

At  a  village  near  Kerowlee  crowds  of  the  sick  and 
their  friends  pressed  upon  the  missionary.  His  hands 
were  otherwise  so  full,  that  usually  he  sought  to  avoid 
this  access  to  the  people.  But  whenever  he  began 
prescribing,  or  there  was  memory  of  his  former  ser- 
vices, his  little  medical  knowledge  and  skill  were  in 
great  demand.  And  in  this  village  surely  God  used 
a  few  doses  of  quinine  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Litchfield 
to  enlist  a  life  of  very  great  value  to  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity in  India. 


478  SELF-GIVING. 

Having  recovered  from  the  fever,  Isa  Das  was  able 
to  intercept  the  returning  missionary  a  fortnight  after, 
and  with  intelligent  sincerity  he  said  : 

"  Your  medicine  cured  my  body.  I  want  now  the 
cure  of  m}r  soul.  And  if  Christ  will  cure  my  soul,  I 
desire  to  spend  my  life  in  telling  others  of  him." 

Frequently  the  converts  in  their  joy  would  bring 
their  babes  to  the  missionary  for  him  to  name.  And, 
as  in  the  ancient  Bible  times  and  in  Bible  lands  to-day, 
theirs  also  was  the  custom  to  select  names  for  their 
children  that  have  meaning  and  adaptation,  Mr.  Litch- 
field would  please  these  parents  very  much  b}'  taking 
one  after  another  of  the  little  children  in  his  arms, 
and  calling  them  Gratitude,  and  Thankful,  and  Hope- 
ful, and  Faithful,  and  the  like.  At  each  selection  he 
would  offer  a  brief  prayer,  and  the  little  service  was 
made  very  impressive,  and  doubtless  a  means  of  great 
permanent  good. 

It  was  very  pitiful  to  have  so  many  clusters  of  con- 
verts or  of  natives,  favorably  disposed  to  Christianity, 
asking  for  resident  teachers  and  preachers,  which 
could  not  yet  be  supplied.  The  missionary  held  out 
no  immediate  encouragement,  except  where  there  was 
an  evident  spirit  of  self-reliance.  In  some  places  the 
public  sentiment  warranted  the  offer  of  the  use  of  a 
heathen  temple,  as  also  the  entire  support  of  a  native 
pastor  if  he  could  be  secured. 

One  of  the  largest  and  most  fruitful  meetings  of 
the  tour  was  held  in  a  building  that  had  been  a 
shameful  temple  to  Siva.  The  Bible  lay  where  the 
obscene  idols  formerly  stood.     The  old  Brahman  him- 


TOUR  OF  VILLAGES  IN  RAJPOOTANA.  479 

self  offered  the  opening  prayer,  and  three  of  his  con- 
verted nautch  girls  led  the  singing.  As  the  one 
pleaded  with  God  to  send  light  into  the  darkness 
around,  and  the  others  sang  — 

Tell  me  the  old,  old  story 
Of  Jesus  aud  his  love, 

Llewellyn  could  not  doubt  there  were  many  angels 
hovering  over  the  beautiful  scene. 

In  five  villages  the  Christians  were  contributing 
one  tenth  of  their  earnings  to  the  support  of  religious 
services,  and  in  three  of  these  a  fund,  small,  indeed, 
but  generous  for  the  givers,  was  ready  for  the  mission- 
ary to  take  and  use  in  helping  to  send  native  preach- 
ers to  other  villages. 

Near  a  little  river  they  crossed,  a  Christian  mela 
was  in  progress,  a  kind  of  camp-meeting  of  a  few  con- 
verts and  their  families.  A  little  market  was  opened 
for  honest  dealing  between  services.  Though  no  im- 
moral exhibitions  were  allowed,  many  natives  congre- 
gated, and  the  opportunity  for  the  missionary  was  one 
of  the  best  of  the  month's  tour. 


CHAPTER  LI. 

MISS   KILBURNE's  TURN"  AT    THE    HOME    WORK. 

AT  Bombay  Margaret  expected  to  connect  imme- 
diately for  Liverpool  and  New  York,  but  an 
accident  to  the  steamship  detained  her  in  port  nearly 
a  week.  However,  she  was  enabled  to  begin  very 
pleasantly  her  much  needed  year's  vacation  by  a  lei- 
surely visit  to  the  various  points  of  special  interest  in 
this  greatest  Indian  metropolis.  Many  hours  she  rode 
upon  the  American  tramway,  which  gave  quite  a  vivid 
sensation  of  the  home  far  distant,  and  enabled  her  to 
see  to  the  best  advantage  the  Mahratta,  Parsee,  Arab 
and  other  native  life  thronging  the  principal  streets. 
Malabar  Hill,  the  Elephanta  Caves,  and  the  University 
tower  with  its  magnificent  prospect,  each  claimed  a 
day  and  filled  it  with  pleasant  memories.  Very  fortu- 
nately for  Margaret,  the  night  before  landing  at  New 
York  was  terribly  stormy,  and  she  was  compelled  to 
endure  indescribable  suffering.  The  rest  and  re- 
covered vigor  from  the  long,  delightful  voyage  seemed 
thus  temporarily  lost,  and  when  in  a  few  hours  after 
passing  the  Custom  House  she  reported  at  "the 
Rooms,"  her  welcome  was  unusually  cordial,  for  she 
appeared  so  thoroughly  dilapidated  and  woe-begone. 

480 


MISS  KILBURNE  AND  IIOME  WORK.  481 

Many  letters  awaited  her,  mostly  of  invitation  from 
mission  bands,  but  as  not  more  than  one  in  ten  of  the 
letters  enclosed  postage,  and  she  had  no  two  or  three 
dollars  to  give  to  her  correspondents  at  present, 
answers  to  the  majority  were  necessarily  delayed. 

To  make  herself  presentable  at  the  score  of 
women's  meetings,  which  it  seemed  best  for  her  to 
attend  on  the  way  to  Chicago,  a  silk  dress  and  accom- 
paniments had  to  be  procured  immediately,  which 
with  the  cost  of  a  railroad  ticket  home,  required  all 
her  half-pay  in  advance  for  two  months.  As  her 
appointments  were  en  route,  none  thought  of  con- 
tributing to  her  incidental  expenses  ;  and  as  at  the  first 
stopping-place  in  Patterson  she  was  allowed  to  use 
her  last  quarter  in  paying  the  baggage  express,  she  was 
compelled  there  to  check  her  trunk  directly  through, 
and  travel  the  rest  of  the  way  in  her  new  dress. 
Wherever  she  was  not  met  now  at  the  depots,  she  had 
to  walk,  the  help  of  the  street-cars  even  being  impossi- 
ble. The  car-riding,  the  dust,  and  the  perspiration  of 
speaking  so  many  times  in  crowded  chapels  ruined 
the  pretty  costume  by  the  time  she  reached  Chicago. 

The  day  before  starting  westward  Margaret  crossed 
to  Brooklyn  to  call  upon  a  well-known  clergyman, 
who  had  received  many  favors  from  her  mother  in 
years  past.  She  felt  as  if  he  was  the  only  one  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York  to  whom  she  could  confide  her 
need  of  a  few  dollars.  But  he  returned  her  card  to 
the  door  by  a  servant,  with  the  pencilled  explanation 
on  its  back  —  "I  decline  to  receive  any  woman  who 
has  unsexed  herself  by  studying  to  be  a  doctor." 


482  .    SELF-GIVING. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kilburne  had  a  most  loving,  Chris- 
tian welcome  for  their  daughter.  Their  joy  and 
pride  made  their  humble  home  more  beautiful  than 
ever  had  been  their  Michigan  Avenue  palace  in  their 
years  of  worldly  display.  The  mother  was  a  ripe  Chris- 
tian, not  able  now  to  do  much  outside  of  her  house- 
hold cares,  but  full  of  intelligent  sympathy  for  mis- 
sions, and  a  half-hour  daily  she  prayed  for  the  cause. 
Margaret's  father  continued  as  mission-secretary  of 
that  district,  highly  esteemed  among  the  churches, 
and  every  year  succeeding  by  his  voice  and  pen  in 
converting  many  more  of  the  ministry  and  laity  to 
the  cause  of  world-evangelization. 

Passing  through  the  State  of  Ohio  to  meet  an 
appointment  in  Cincinnati,  Margaret  learned  that  at 
Toledo  a  large  association  of  churches  was  holding 
an  anniversary,  and  concluded  to  stop  over  a  few 
hours.  None  seemed  to  know  her,  or  even  to  have 
heard  of  her  work.  Several  ministers  were  not  cer- 
tain that  there  was  any  mission  in  Northern  India  ; 
and  the  entertaining  pastor  was  evidently  very  chary 
of  his  cordialities,  until  he  had  been  to  his  study 
and  found  the  names  of  Agra  and  Miss  Kilburne  in 
his  unread  pile  of  mission-magazines. 

When  Margaret  saw  in  the  printed  minutes  of  the 
last  year  that  the  association  had  raised  seventy-thou- 
sand dollars  for  home  expenses,  and  only  four  dollars 
and  twenty  cents  for  foreign  missions,  she  felt  as  if 
she  must  arrange  a  woman's  meeting  before  taking 
the  evening-train.  But  no  one  invited  her.  The 
moderator  objected  to  breaking  up  the  general  after- 


MISS  KILBURNE  AND  HOME  WORK.  483 

noon  session.  He  had  an  essay  himself  to  read  upon 
the  "Immorality  of  Using  Tobacco/'  and  wanted  an 
audience.  Then  he  was  quite  opposed  to  dividing 
the  strength  of  the  denomination  upon  foreign  mis- 
sions. The  women  should  cooperate  with  the  men, 
and  if  she  had  any  facts  to  present  she  could  do  it 
through  their  regular  committee. 

However,  she  carried  her  point  to  the  extent  of 
securing  a  notice  of  a  five  o'clock  woman's  meeting, 
to  which  many  of  the  brethren  lingered.  All  were 
interested,  and  a  collection  was  taken  of  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  dollars.  Those  who  carried  the 
boxes  were  almost  pale  witli  fright.  How  could  the 
salary-arrears  of  so  many  pastors  be  paid,  when 
such  an  amount  of  money  was  being  permitted 
to  slip  through  their  hands ! 

The  moderator  of  the  association,  who  had  lingered 
in  the  vestibule,  hearing  all,  but  not  willing  to  see 
a  woman  speak,  now  entered,  and  suggested  that 
the  disposal  of  the  unexpected  contribution  be  left 
to  the  regular  financial   committee. 

"  This  lady  has  professed  to  talk  to  you  as  a  mere 
labor  of  love,"  he  continued,  "and  doubtless  she 
will  be  satisfied  if  this  generous  collection  is  appro- 
priated to  the  mission-cause  according  to  the  judg- 
ment of  all  the  associational  delegates." 

Through  all  this  Margaret  was  silent.  She  might 
have  been  more  explicit,  but  trusted  to  the  proprie- 
ties of  the  occasion.  Of  course  the  money  would  be 
forwarded  to  the  treasury  of  the  Woman's  Society 
which  she  represented.     But  it  was  not. 


484  SELF-GIVING. 

While  weary  and  supperless,  the  repulsed  and 
heart-bleeding  missionary  was  rolling  on  toward 
other  duties  of  the  morrow,  the  delegates  behind, 
cold  and  hard  as  the  steel  rails  underneath  her  traini 
decided  that  as  the  discouragement  of  the  use  of 
tobacco  is  legitimate  mission-work,  therefore  the 
afternoon  collection  be  appropriated  to  the  publica- 
tion and  distribution  among  the  freedmen  of  the 
moderator's  able  and  timely  essay. 

One  stand  Margaret  took  very  decidedly.  She 
would  address  those  meetings  only  that  were  under 
women's  auspices.  A  woman  must  preside,  and  spe- 
cial efforts  must  be  made  to  rally  a  congregation  of 
women.  All  men  present  should  be  considered  as  guests 
of  a  women's  meeting.  This  stand,  so  wise  in  its  loyal- 
ty to  womanhood  and  in  its*  deference  to  the  rights  of 
the  general  mission  societies,  gave  her  much  trouble 
in  correspondence,  and  at  some  of  the  meetings. 

The  secretary  of  the  Pittsburg  band  could  not 
understand  Miss  Kilburne's  scruples,  and  declared  that 
no  lady  could  be  found  in  the  city  to  preside  at  the 
meeting,  and  that  her  pastor  would  introduce  her 
after  he  had  read  a  chapter  and  prayed.  Margaret 
telegraphed,  positively  declining  to  conform  to  any 
such  arrangement. 

Nevertheless,  because  she  did  not  flush,  and  blush, 
and  refuse  to  speak  if  even  one  man  had  slipped  in  at 
a  meeting,  many  who  listen  to  far  bolder-appearing 
women  in  choir-loft  and  on  concert-platform,  would 
not  hear  her.  And  on  the  other  hand,  she  found  her- 
self, to  her  great  annoyance,  elected  and  published  as 


MISS  KILBURNE  AND  HOME  WORE.  485 

a  member  of  the  Female  Suffrage  Association  of  Chi- 
cago. 

As  Miss  Kilburne  was  delivering  so  many  ad- 
dresses, there  were  multitudes  who  thought  she  was 
making  "  piles  of  money."  Almost  every  day  people 
applied  to  her  for  help  in  raising  ministers'  salaries,  in 
buying  new  carpets  for  churches,  or  in  making  addi- 
tions to  Sunday-school  libraries. 

One  day  in  Chicago,  ex-Senator  Lough  ridge  called. 
Immediately  he  relieved  Margaret's  embarrassment  by 
announcing  his  approaching  marriage  to  a  Washington 
lady,  and  added  : 

"  I  came  to  tell  you  that  if  I  am  a  Christian  to-day, 
it  is  because  of  you.  The  giving  of  yourself  to  the 
cause  of  missions,  when  I  pleaded  with  }rou  to  ac- 
cept the  position  of  a  senator's  wife,  and  then  your 
subsequent  steadfast  loyalty  to  Christ  when  I  offered 
to  bring  you  wealth  and  make  you  the  first  American 
lady  in  India  —  I  could  not  help  it,  Miss  Kilburne, 
I  had  to  acknowledge  the  reality  of  3rour  religion. 
Before  the  altar  on  which  your  life  has  been  burning, 
my  unbelief  has  all  vanished.  Your  Saviour  is  mine 
now ;  and  though  you  refused  to  bear  my  name,  my 
saved  soul  shall  be  a  star  in  your  crown  throughout 
all  eternity." 

While  Heaven  was  growing  brighter  to  the  mission- 
ary, earth  was  growing  darker.  For  some  months 
she  had  been  experiencing  an  increasing  difficulty 
with  her  eyes.  Little  hazy  spots  were  forming  and 
enlarging,  evidently  not  upon  the  surface.  Her  judg- 
ment told  her  no  occular  surgery  could  do  her  any 


486  SELF-GIVING. 

good.  She  only  waited  till  she  could  save  enough  to 
consult  an  eminent  authority,  and  be  told  as  reliably 
as  possible,  the  length  of  time  before  she  should  be 
totally  blind. 

"  If  you  return  to  India,"  he  said,  "  you  cannot 
expect  the  use  of  your  eyes  for  more  than  five  years. 
In  America,  with  great  care,  they  may  serve  you  ten 
years." 

Immediately  she  arranged  to  hasten  back  to  Agra. 
Margaret  might  meet  her  parents  again,  but  proba- 
bly could  never  see  them  any  more  in  the  flesh.  They 
did  not  understand  why  she  looked  at  them  so  con- 
stantly and  steadily  while  they  were  together,  and 
they  thought  it  very  strange  that  she  should  want  to 
take  a  plaster-cast  of  their  faces  with  her  to  India, 
when  photographs  are  so  much  more  satisfactory  and 
inexpensive. 

"  O,"  she  said,  "  I  like  to  feel  what  I  love  with 
my  fingers." 

Unexpectedly,  on  journeying  eastward  to  reembark 
for  India,  Margaret  met  ex-Secretary  King,  formerly 
of  Boston,  but  now  the  pastor  of  a  little  church  in 
Western  Pennsylvania. 

"I  have  lost  my  three-thousand-dollar  place,  and 
only  get  now  fifteen  hundred,"  he  growled  ;  "and  I  be- 
lieve your  Litchfields  are  at  the  bottom  of  it." 

"  They  have  always  spoken  most  kindly  of  you  in 
my  presence,  regretting  chiefly  your  unfounded  suspi- 
cion of  all  their  correspondence  and  of  all  their  efforts 
during  vacation  in  the  home  country." 

"  Snakes  in  the  grass  !     Mere  snakes  in  the  grass  !  " 


MISS  KILBURNE  AND  HOME  WORK.  487 

"  Indeed,  Doctor  King,  your  judgment  and  spirit 
are  not  excusable.  Both  in  public  and  private  you 
have  endeavored  to  tread  upon  them  as  serpents, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  have  striven  anxiously  to 
be  only  angels  of  peace  to  you,  guarding  you  from 
all  misrepresentation  and  magnifying  your  virtues." 

A  day  at  Yonker's  Female  College,  another  with 
Mrs.  Lydclell  at  Boston,  and  Margaret  watched  the  re- 
ceding shores  of  her  native  land  once  more,  and  with 
a  very  special  earnestness. 


CHAPTER  LIL 

CHURCH  DISCIPLINE   AND   MISSIONARY  MARTYRDOM. 

WHILE  exaggerated  statistics  of  churches  in  the 
foreign  mission-field  are  far  less  frequently  to 
be  met  than  in  Christian  lands,  it  was  one  of  the  great 
burdens  which  Mr.  Litchfield  had  to  carry,  that  within 
the  range  of  his  acquaintance  throughout  North  India, 
there  were  several  stations  where  delinquent  converts 
were  never  excluded,  and  many  continued  to  be 
reported  who  had  lapsed  into  heathenism. 

One  missionary,  against  whose  laxity  Mr.  Litch- 
field was  kindly  protesting,  frankly  acknowledged 
that  the  exercise  of  thorough  discipline  among 
those  under  his  nominal  supervision  would  reduce  a 
third  the  appropriation  to  his  station. 

"Those  who  support  us,"  he  said,  "have  a  mono- 
mania for  large  figures.  They  cannot  long  maintain 
any  enthusiasm  over  less  than  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands. If  we  cannot  keep  rising  statistically,  then 
quite  inevitably  down  goes  all  their  practical  interest 
in  us." 

But  the  Agra  missionaries  were  very  decidedly 
opposed  to  any  such  compromise  of  principle.  They 
were  in  India  under  God  to  build  up  true  Christian 

488 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE.  489 

churches,  feeling  that  it  was  of  supreme  importance 
that  their  work  should  be  genuine.  If  the  exclusion 
of  unworthy  members,  even  to  the  loss  of  half  or  all 
the  number  of  their  reported  converts,  was  necessary, 
they  were  confident  they  could  trust  their  Divine 
Master  with  the  consequent  impressions  among  the 
supporters  of  the  mission. 

In  the  village  of  Saringpoor,  twenty-three  miles 
south  of  Agra,  had  been  gathered  a  church  of  sixty 
members.  From  its  organization  it  had  been  chiefly 
under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Fowler.  Yet  he  had 
been  so  absorbed  with  his  schoolroom  duties. as  not 
to  visit  Saringpoor  more  than  once  a  year,  and  then 
in  such  a  hurried,  superficial  manner  as  to  secure  very 
little  acquaintance  and  do  very  little  good. 

There  were  rumors  of  Sabbath-breaking,  and  child- 
hood marriages,  and  idolatries,  but  the  native  pastor 
who  had  been  three  years  under  the  instruction  of  the 
Agra  missionaries,  and  retained  the  perfect  confidence 
of  them  all,  denied  the  truth  of  these  disquieting 
reports,  and  furnished  many  grounds  for  reassur- 
ances. 

But  one  excessively  warm  day,  Chandur  Ghulam 
called  at  the  mission,  wearing  his  garments  loosely, 
and,  to  his  utter  confusion,  Mrs.  Litchfield  discovered 
a  large  brass  cross  hanging  to  a  chain  around  his 
neck. 

He  denied  that  he  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic, 
but  the  manner  of  the  denial  was  equal  to  a  con- 
fession, and  that  same  evening  the  missionaries 
decided  in  conference   that  Mr.    Litchfield   and  the 


490  SELF-GIVING. 

Agra  native  pastor  should  spend  the  following  Sun- 
day in  Saringpoor. 

The  situation  was  found  to  more  than  justify  the 
rumors.  Under  the  personal  and  financial  influence 
of  one  of  the  Italian  Catholic  missionaries  of  Agra, 
the  native  pastor,  Chandur  Ghulam,  had  thoroughly 
apostatized.  All  but  five  of  the  members  had 
accepted  his  leadership,  at  least  for  the  present. 
These  five,  of  whom  four  were  women,  had,  under 
various  pretexts,  been  kept  from  going  to  Agra,  or 
from  communicating  with  their  missionaries. 

Many  of  the  heathen  of  Saringpoor  had  been 
induced  to  compromise  by  the  priest  of  Rome.  They 
had  fought  as  faithful  Hindus  against  the  evangelical 
truth,  but  when  it  was  promised  them  that  they 
might  continue  to  worship  all  their  idols  if  they 
would  call  them  Jesus  and  Mary  instead  of  Vishnu 
and  Kali,  and  that  they  might  put  their  large  image 
of  Kali  in  the  Christian  chapel — so  much  better  a 
building  than  their  old  temple  —  there  was  a  very 
general  rally  of  all  Brahmans  and  people  to  the 
new  religion. 

Under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Litchfield's  presence, 
several  of  the  leaders  among  the  former  converts 
promised  to  return  to  their  duty,  if  he  would  pass 
everything  as  excused.  But  he  assured  them  that 
this  would  be  quite  impossible  in  loyalty  to  the  cause 
of  Christ  in  India.  He  could  no  longer  recognize 
others  than  the  five  faithful  ones  as  constituting  the 
Saringpoor  church.  All  the  others  must  be  excluded, 
to  be  restored  only  upon  repentance  and  a  probation 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE.  491 

long  enough  to  test  the  genuineness  of  their  recon- 
version. 

"  If,"  said  he,  "  we  could  only  have  known  of  the 
first  of  your  apostatizing,  your  Sabbath-breaking, 
your  immoralities,  your  idolatries,  and  then  had 
prompt  church-discipline  exercised,  this  great  scandal 
to  the  cause  of  Christ  throughout  all  India,  might 
have  been  avoided." 

Probably  Mr.  Litchfield  should  not  have  proceeded 
farther  than  this  faithful  protest  and  instruction  and 
ecclesiastical  counsel  or  action.  But  that  image  of 
Kali  in  the  chapel  was  extremely  exasperating.  There 
it  stood  in  all  its  indescribable  hideousness,  close  to 
his  side,  as  he  explained  to  all  the  villagers  who  were 
present,  the  principles  of  a  Christian  church  and  the 
necessity  of  faithful  discipline,  as  well  as  of  faithful 
ingathering. 

On  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  forgetful  that  the 
villagers  had  built  the  chapel  at  their  own  expense, 
and  considered  it  their  own  property,  he  caught  up 
the  image  of  Kali  in  his  arms,  and  started  for  the 
door,  sa}ring : 

"I  will  place  it  outside,  and  those  of  you  who  own 
the  idol,  may  take  it  away." 

At  this,  as  at  a  signal  for  which  many  were  waiting, 
fully  prepared,  an  angry  shout  arose,  and  many  stones 
were  hurled  at  the  missionary, .the  Agra  native  pastof, 
and  at  the  only  loyal  male  member  of  the  Saring- 
poor  church.  The  two  latter  sprang  in  front  of  Mr. 
Litchfield,  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  for  his,  shout- 
ing to  the  mob  of  apostates  and  Romanized  Hindus: 


492  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Kill  us,  but  not  your  best  earthly  friend  !  " 

"  We  may  die,  but  the  true  God  lives  and  will 
judge  you ! " 

"  May  God  forgive  you ;  you  know  not  what  you 
do!" 

First,  Saroop  Singh  fell,  his  head  crushed  by  a  stone 
larger  than  his  fist,  and  in  a  moment  after,  the  Sar- 
ingpoor  brother  sank,  with  the  word  "  forgive  '  upon 
his  lips. 

What  could  the  unarmed  missionary  do  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  mob  made  up  of  such  elements  as  had  trai- 
torously and  with  tiger-like  ferocity  slain  hundreds  of 
English  men,  women  and  children  in  the  mutiny 
twenty-three  years  before,  and  were  now  organized 
for  his  death  by  Jesuitical  cunning  and  Brahminical 
hate  ? 

He  could  only  fold  his  arms,  look  up  to  Heaven 
and  wait  God's  will. 

Not  strange  that  he  thought  of  Stephen's  martyrdom. 
Not  strange  that  as  Stephen,  "  he  saw  the  glory  of 
God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 

He  thought  it  was  death,  and  with  the  language  of 
the  proto-martyr  still  upon  his  lips,  exclaimed  : 

"  Lord  Jesus,  feceive  my  spirit !  " 

And  again,  kneeling  down,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin 
to  their  charge  !  " 

•  In  an  instant,  beneath  a  shower  of  stones,  his  head 
fell  over  upon  the  breast  of  the  dead  Agra  pastor,  and 
the  mob  thought  that  the  missionary  also  was  dead. 
The  murders  accomplished,  a  sudden  panic  seized  the 
maddened  crowd,  and  in  a  few  moments  they  had 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE.  493 

scattered,  leaving  the  chapel  occupied  only  by  the  two 
corpses,  the  mangled  and  unconscious  missionary, 
and  by  piles  of  stone,  and  broken  benches,  and  win- 
dows, and  doors. 

Hours  passed  and  night  drew  on,  but  none  of  the 
villagers  reentered  the  chapel.  The  cold,  damp  air 
revived  Mr  Litchfield,  but  he  could  neither  move  nor 
speak.  He  could  only  wait  until  it  seemed  almost 
morning,  yet  it  was  only  midnight. 

Then  crept  in  stealthily  the  four  faithful  women 
converts,  hardly  repressing  their  joy  on  finding  the 
missionary  alive.  One  turned  quickly  and  put  her 
hand  on  the  heart  of  her  dead  husband.  Quietly  they 
unfolded  one  of  their  shawls,  placed  Mr.  Litchfield 
upon  it,  then,  each  at  a  corner,  carried  him  through  a 
side  street  out  from  the  village  seven  miles,  to  the 
brethren  of  another  church.  Thence  stronger  arms 
bore  him  to  his  Agra  home,  where  he  was  to  await 
the  carrying  of  angels'  hands  to  another. 


CHAPTER  LIIL 

SHOWING   THE   WORK   TO    AMERICAN   TRAVELLERS. 

THOUGH  Mr.  Litchfield  partially  rallied,  his 
vigorous  constitution  had  received  a  blow  from 
which  it  could  never  recover.  There  were  serious 
internal  injuries,  which  were  complicated  by  the  gen- 
eral nervous  prostration  and  by  those  several  hours 
of  night  exposure  after  his  body  had  been  over- 
heated by  work  and  excitement.  He  had  had  his 
last  tour  among  the  villages,  and  though  he  was 
taken  in  the  mission-carriage  a  few  times  to  appoint- 
ments in  the  city,  and  occasionally  carried  in  a  sedan- 
chair  to  the  different  buildings  upon  the  compound, 
it  was  painfully  evident  that  the  little  service  he 
could  yet  be  to  the  cause  must  be  from  the  invalid 
chair  in  his  own  home. 

Miss  Kilburne's  return  at  this  time  was  very  provi- 
dential, and  yet  the  condition  of  her  eyes  made  it 
unwise,  if  not  impossible,  to  be  as  efficient  as  she 
desired  in  the  emergency.  There  was  her  own  unfin- 
ished book,  as  also  Mr.  Litchfield's  un revised  manu- 
script. Each  had  become  responsible  for  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  Scripture  in  the  new  Hindi  version, 
and  much  remained  to  be  done  upon  the  new  song- 

494 


SHOWING  THE  WORK.  405 

book  which  they  had  been  assisting  Mrs.  Litchfield  to 
prepare. 

To  both,  the  Litchfield  children  were  very  helpful 
in  this  extremity  and  pressure.  They  could  read 
Hindi  fluently,  and  really  knew  better  than  either 
their  father  or  "aunt  Margaret"  how  to  express  sim- 
ple thoughts  in  language  the  most  idiomatic  and 
intelligible  to  the  natives.  Every  day  their  }*oung 
eyes  saved  hours  of  labor  and  pain  to  the  one  who 
was  hastening  to  close  his  service  in  this  world,  and 
to  the  other  who  knew  that  in  a  little  while  the  day 
would  be  to  her  as  dark  as  night. 

It  was  December,  1880,  and  the  foreign  travelling- 
season  had  begun.  Every  day  the  Agra  hotel  was 
receiving  guests  from  England,  Europe,  and  espe- 
cially from  America.  Not  one  in  a  thousand  of  them 
would  think  of  the  important  mission-enterprise, 
sending  forth  its  inestimable  influences  from  within 
sight  of  the  Taj  to  one  hundred  millions  of  Hindi- 
speaking  populations. 

What  was  the  duty  of  the  missionaries  toward 
these  travellers,  the  majority  of  whom  command  so 
much  influence  in  the  home  lands  ?  Their  custom 
had  been  to  seek  them  by  personal  interviews  and 
formal  invitations,  even  to  have  every  winter  a  no- 
tice and  welcome  hung  up  in  the  hotel  and  at  the 
railway-station,  and  thus  God  enabled  them  to  con- 
vert many  travellers  to  a  genuine  and  practical  inter- 
est in  the  mission-cause.  That  there  might  be  no  mis- 
understanding of  their  motives,  the  printed  notice 
contained  the  assurance  that  no  contributions  were 


496  SELF-GIVING. 

solicited,  but  only  from  one  to  three  hours  of  per- 
sonal investigation,  that  the  travellers  might  carry  to 
their  distant  homes  reliable  information  with  regard  to 
the  methods  and  results  of  foreign  mission-work. 

"  I  cannot  consent  to  abandon  this  important  feature 
of  our  work  this  winter,"  bravely  replied  Mr.  Litch- 
field to  all  the  objections  raised.  "For  the  sake  of 
the  glorious  cause,  I  would  like  one  more  campaign 
on  this  line  before  I  am  mustered  out." 

"And,"  added  Miss  Kilburne,  "it  is  so  delightful 
to  see  the  impressions  made,  the  interest  awakened, 
the  prejudices  removed,  the  intelligence  acquired. 
It  is  such  a  privilege  to  see  with  one's  own  eyes  ; 
but  I  cannot  many  winters  more,  and  so  I  will 
work  doubly  hard,  that  we  may  hold  on  to  the  old 
plan  God  has  so  richly  blessed." 

The  first  one  after  this  to  accept  their  invitation 
troubled  them  exceedingly  by  his  strange  perver- 
sity and  blundering,  but  not  at  all  discouraged,  these 
brave  soldiers  of  the  Cross  "  picked  their  flints  "  and 
tried  again. 

The  guest,  a  prominent  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  was 
invited  to  remain  to  evening  dinner.  As  he  remem- 
bered he  could  call  for  food  at  the  hotel  until  ten 
o'clock,  to  supplement  the  humble,  half-starvation  fare 
as  he  imagined,  of  the  missionary  table,  he  accepted. 

The  kitchen  telegraph  communicated  the  intelli- 
gence to  all  the  mission-families.  Mrs.  Fowler 
roasted  a  chicken.  Mrs.  Wightman  made  one  of 
her  delicious  puddings.  Miss  Kilburne  rushed  to 
the    bazaar  and   selected   a   generous  assortment   of 


SHOWING  THE  WORK.  497 

fruits  and  nuts.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lindsey,  who  had 
the  only  ice-house  among  the  mission's  friends,  sent 
over  three  quarts  of  ice-cream,  one  each  of  vanilla, 
lemon,  and  chocolate.  Mrs.  Litchfield  had  left  from 
a  little  box,  latety  received,  one  pint  can  of  salmon, 
and  another  of  strawberries,  and  so  withal  the 
St.  Louis  gentleman  had  a  dinner  fit  for  a  king, 
and  he  ought  to  have  had  perception  enough  to 
realize  that  his  feast  quite  exhausted  the  hospitality 
of  the  whole  mission,  and  emphasized  for  several 
clays  the  question  of  economy  ill  every  family. 

But  the  stupid  guest  reported  the  next  day  at  the 
hotel,  and  subsequently,  as  his  hosts  learned,  in  Cal- 
cutta and  Bombay,  and  doubtless  since  throughout 
England  and  America,  that  missionaries  are  the  most 
luxurious  livers  in  all  heathen  lands,  and  that  it  is 
absurd  to  represent  them  as  greatly  sacrificing  for 
the  salvation  of  benighted  souls. 

A  prominent  clergyman  and  his  wife  from  New 
York,  exhibited  astonishing  ignorance  upon  mission- 
subjects,  as  they  were  being  conducted  by  Mrs.  Litch- 
field and  Miss  Kilburne  through  the  several  depart- 
ments.    They  raised  such  questions  as  these: 

"  Do  all  the  natives  speak  Sanscrit  ?  " 

"  Are  there  more  Hindus  than  Buddhists  in  India  ?  " 

"Have  Missions  extended  into  the  south  of  this 
country  ?  " 

"  Why  do  the  English  leave  the  evangelization  of 
this  land  almost  entirely  to  American  Christians  ?  " 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  any  German  missionaries 
in  Asia?" 


498  SELF-GIVING. 

"  Have  the  natives  any  literature  of  their  own  ?" 

"  Has  all  the  Bible  yet  been  translated  into  the 
language  of  India  ?  " 

"  Are  there  many  Mahometans  here?" 

Yet  this  man  was  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  famous  as 
a  "star-preacher"  of  the  American  metropolis,  and 
thought  he  knew  about  all  that  it  was  necessary 
to  know  in  order  to  guide  his  great  church  in  the 
discharge  of  its  responsibilities  before  God. 

"Well,"  exclaimed  a  young  Philadelphian  as  he 
adjusted  his  eyeglass  before  the  hotel  notice  of  the 
mission,  "  this  is  extraordinary.  Folks  will  ask  me 
about  missions  when  I  reach  home,  and  some  of 
them  will  corner  me,  for  I  have  taken  no  pains  to 
see  anything  of  them  thus  far  in  Japan,  and  China, 
and  Java.  A  man  cannot  see  what  he  will  not  look 
at." 

The  missionaries  found  him  candid  and  inquiring, 
and  they  enabled  him  to  leave  Agra  a  friend  of  the 
cause,  promising  to  cooperate  through  his  own  society 
to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability  through  life. 

Two  young  people  from  Newark  were  on  their 
wedding  tour  around  the  globe.  Both  had  inherited 
property  which  was  well  invested,  had  buried  their 
parents,  were  Christians,  and  as  }'et  were  unsettled 
in  their  plan  of  life.  But  soon  they  became  thoroughly 
interested  in  the  Agra  mission.  As  they  saw  the 
great  responsibilities  being  carried,  and  particularly 
how  soon  Mr.  Litchfield  would  be  at  rest,  and  Miss 
Kilburne  blind,  they  announced  their  prayerful  and 
thoughtful  agreement  to  stay  as  missionaries  at  their 


SHOWING  THE  WORK.  499 

own  expense,  if  nil  the  other  missionaries  desired  it, 
and  on  the  latter's  representations  the  Home  Board 
would  give  them  an  appointment.  It  was  evidently 
providential,  and  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarence  Hay- 
ward  were  fully  installed,  the  way  upward  seemed 
more  welcome  to  Llewellyn,  and  the  way  onward 
brighter  to  Margaret. 

One  afternoon  a  Rev.  Mr.  Seaman,  Avife  and  son 
came  over  from  the  hotel  to  see  what  interested  them 
more  than  the  Taj  and  the  palatial  fort.  They  were 
from  Hartford,  leisurely  touring  the  world,  and  re- 
mained a  week  in  Agra.  Each  day  they  spent  several 
hours  with  the  missionaries  at  their  work,  becom- 
ing very  familiar  with  each  department.  With  Miss 
Kilburnc  they  journeyed  two  days  among  the  neigh- 
boring villages.  Through  interpreters,  Mr.  Seaman 
addressed  the  theological  students  several  times; 
once  a  general  meeting  of  the  native  Christians,  and 
three  times  large  gatherings  of  orderly,  attentive 
heathen.  Mrs.  Seaman  became  acquainted  with  the 
Bible-women,  went  with  them  to  many  Christian 
homes  and  Hindu  zenanas,  and  talked  and  prayed 
beside  many  of  the  hospital-cots.  And  the  boy 
helped  to  make  the'children  and  others  very  happy. 

"  Thank  God,  for  the  coming  of  all  of  3-011  ! "  said 
Cleora. 

"Almost  as  good  to  us  as  a  vacation  at  home," 
added  Margaret. 

And  Llewellyn  said  in  his  good-by,  "What  you 
have  done  for  us  and  ours  in  Agra  has  paid  for  all 
your  time  and  expense  around  the  world." 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

CASHMERE  AXD  THE  HIMALAYAS. 

ALL  were  mistaken  who  expected  to  find  at  the 
Litchfields  a  sad  home,  or  a  perpetual  shadow 
in  the  companionship  of  Miss  Kilburne.  The  future 
had  not  been  selected  by  them,  but  by  One  in  whose 
love  and  wisdom  they  had  perfect  confidence.  As 
their  own  plans  were  crossed  by  the  plans  of  God, 
there  was  surprise,  but  no  dismay;  tears,  but  no  bit- 
terness; the  eclipse  of  some  bright  sunbeams,  but  the 
dawn  of  many  others. 

To  make  the  passing  months  the  sweetest  and 
most  cheerful  of  their  lives  ;  to  have  them  remem- 
bered by  their  children  as  unusually  happy,  and  to 
illustrate  before  both  Christian  and  heathen  natives 
the  thoroughly  reconciling  and  heart-uplifting  power 
of  Divine  grace,  was  the  prayerful,  painstaking 
endeavor  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield.  And 
Margaret  felt,  and  desired  that  all  others  around 
her  should  appreciate  she  so  felt,  that  the  spiritual 
vision  God  gives  his  believing  children  is  infinitely 
more  important  than  natural  vision  ;  that  the  light 
she  was  losing  was  of  comparatively  small  conse- 
quence to  that  she  was  gaining  from  the  truth  and 

500 


CASHMERE  AND  THE  HIMALAYAS.  501 

spirit  of  Christ ;  and  that  while  she  saw  with 
increased  difficulty  the  beauties  and  deformities  of 
earth,  she  beheld  with  greater  clearness  every  day 
glories    that  can  never  fade  away. 

General  Rhodes  was  at  this  time  in  command  of 
the  fort,  and  Doctor  Hazard  still  the  resident  phy- 
sician. Both  were  frequently  callers  at  the  mission, 
and  preferred  the  social  life  they  found  there  to 
the  families  of  the  merchants  and  of  those  in  the 
civil  service. 

As  one  afternoon  they  were  smoking  in  the  "  Jas- 
mine Bower "  of  Akbar's  fortified  palace,  looking 
through  the  marble  window  at  the  Taj,  the  General 
exclaimed : 

"  Is  it  possible,  Doctor,  that  our  friend  Litchfield 
must  go?  1  know  he  is  not  as  strong  as  before 
that  mob,  but  I  supposed  him  good  for  3-ears  yet." 

"  O,  no  !  They  insisted  upon  perfect  frankness, 
and  I  told  them  months  ago,  he  could  not  hang  on 
more  than  a  year,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  pull  through  this  summer  without  a  journey  to  the 
mountains." 

"  Extraordinary,  then,  their  cheerfulness.  Have 
enjoyed  of  late  visiting  them  more  than  ever.  They 
keep  up  with  all  the  news  from  England,  and  she  can 
sing  like  a  bird.  Fact  is,  they  are  brave.  His 
missionarying  has  spoiled  a  good  soldier." 

"  It  is  more  than  bravery,  General.  You  know  I 
am  not  much  on  piety,  but  I  cannot  explain,  on 
natural  principles,  how  my  announcement  of  speedy 
death  should   make    everything  at   that   home   as  if 


502  SELF-GIVING. 

there  was  going  to  be  a  wedding,  and  not  a  funeral." 

"  My  old  mother  in  England  would  say,  I  suppose, 
that  there  is  going  to  be  a  wedding." 

"  Well,  General,  I  have  almost  forgotten  what  that 
kind  of  language  means  as  applied  to  the  anatomy 
and  pathology  of  the  unseen,  but  if  the  Litchfields' 
belief  is  a  delusion,  it  is  very  practical.  I  would  give 
a  thousand  pounds  to  be  under  the  delightful 
hallucination." 

41  So  would  I.  But,  Doctor,  I  have  an  idea.  My 
brother  is  British  resident  at  Sreenuggur,  capital  of 
Cashmere.  He  is  younger  than  I  am,  and  ought  to 
be  pious.  A  large  house,  and  nobod}^  but  his  wife. 
I  will  write  him  to  invite  the  Litchfields  for  the 
summer.  He  is  down  on  missionaries,  but  I  will  tell 
him  these  have  not  been  spoiled  at  all.  I  will  be  fair 
and  explain  the  situation,  yet  assure  him  that  he  will 
have  a  good  time  with  them  up  to  the  last  day. 
Extraordinary  !     Ver}' !  " 

Accordingly  in  two  weeks  it  was  arranged.  Miss 
Kilburne  came  over  from  the  hospital  to  take  charge 
of  the  house  and  the  children.  The  parting  looks 
were  a  little  more  earnest.  Some  of  the  smiles 
lingered  a  little  awkwardly  upon  the  faces.  That  last 
morning-prayer  was  very  brief,  and  Cleora  suggested 
that  there  would  hardly  be  time  for  the  usual  singing. 
But  it  was  all  the  weakness  of  the  flesh.  The 
spirit  of  both  parents  was  strong,  God's  strength 
proving  equal  to  the  day.  They  were  happy,  grace 
being    sufficient. 

They  broke  journey  at  Meerut,  Lahore  and  Jhelum. 


CASHMERE  AND  THE  HIMALAYAS.  503 

At  Meerut,  where  occurred  the  first  outbreak  of  the 
mutiny,  a  great  religious  fair  was  in  progress,  and 
missionaries  were  toiling  to  improve  the  opportunity. 

Passing  through  Umritsur,  the  commercial  capital 
of  the  Punjab  and  the  religious  centre  of  the  Sikhism, 
they  could  see  the  magnificent  marble  temple,  with 
its  gilded  cupolas,  where  is  enshrined  the  Grunth,  or 
sacred  book  of  the  Sikhs.  But  missionaries  who  met 
them  at  the  station,  are  building  more  enduring  mon- 
uments than  of  Runjeet  Singh. 

Two  days  were  enjoyed  at  Lahore,  the  political 
capital  of  the  Punjab,  as  guests  of  the  missionary  in 
charge  of  the  Divinity  School.  Though  a  majority 
around  them  were  Moslems  and  Sikhs,  with  many 
they  could  still  converse  in  Hindi,  though  they  found 
their  less  familiar  Hindustani  the  more  useful. 

As  Mr.  Litchfield  talked  with  some  of  the  Sikhs, 
and  saw  how  strongly  they  protested  against  both  the 
idolatry  of  the  Hindus  and  the  rigid  monotheism  of 
Islam,  he  felt  that,  notwithstanding  the  inferiority  of 
their  Grunth  to  the  Vedas  and  the  Koran,  as  much 
might  yet  be  expected  from  this  people  in  conquering 
India  for  Christ,  as  in  holding  it  for  Great  Britain. 

Ever  since  reaching  Saharunpoor,  a  day  from  Agra, 
they  had  been  in  sight  of  the  Himalayas,  and  had 
felt  the  cool  and  invigorating  influence  of  their 
eternal  snows.  But  now  they  entered  into  the  em- 
brace of  these  most  gigantic  of  earth's  mountains,  and 
found  in  the  famous  Valley  of  Cashmere,  not  an  Arc- 
tic welcome,  but  the  utmost  comfort  and  exhilaration 
and  beauty. 


504  SELF-GIVING. 

From  the  Residency  at  Sreenuggur,  they  could 
see  over  all  of  the  fertile  and  charming  valley,  one 
hundred  miles  by  seventy  ;  in  truth,  an  earthly  para- 
dise, full  of  treasures  natural  and  artistic  ;  the  climate 
perfect,  and  the  almost  matchless  picture  set  in  a 
framework  of  dazzling  white. 

With  their  hosts  and  the  English  missionaries,  the 
Litchfields  visited  several  of  the  artistic  and  historical 
points  of  interest  scattered  over  the  beautiful  plain. 
Almost  always  there  were  travellers  or  fugitives  from 
the  hot,  dusty  plains  of  India  to  join  them,  yet  inva- 
riably Llewellyn  and  Cleora  were  the  centre  of  the 
social  circle,  the  oracles  of  the  most  intelligence,  the 
leading  interpreters  of  nature  and  art,  and  the  most 
cheerful,  racy  conversationalists  upon  the  sense  and 
nonsense  of  the  day. 

The  excursion  which  was  most  enjoyed  by  the 
Agra  missionaries,  was  to  Marttand,  five  miles  beyond 
the  ancient  capital  of  Islamabad.  It  was  not  that  its 
temple  ruin  is  the  architectural  gem  of  Cashmere,  not 
that  by  many  tourists  it  has  been  compared  for  beauty 
and  magnificence  to  Palmyra  and  Thebes,  nor  yet 
that  its  position  upon  an  elevated  plateau  is  unsur- 
passed in  all  the  valley  ;  but  because  of  all  known 
buildings  throughout  the  world,  this  most  nearly  re- 
produced the  plan  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem. 

Mr.  Litchfield  became  quite  interested  over  the 
Cashmere  "  Raja  Tarangini,"  the  only  existing  Indian 
history,  seeking  to  discover  to  what  deity  this  temple 
was  dedicated.  Many  pleasant  hours  he  passed  also 
investigating  the  strange  architectural  affinities  around 


CASIIMEEE  AND  THE  HIMALAYAS.  505 

him,  with  Greece  on  the  one  hand  and  with  Cambodia 
on  the  other. 

But  September  had  come,  and  the  time  when  it 
would  be  safe  for  the  return  to  Agra.  They  had 
spent  the  summer  as  if  years  were  before  them. 
There  had  been  much  thought,  and  prayer,  and 
private  conversation  about  Llewellyn's  last  journey 
so  soon,  but  generally  life  moved  on  as  if  only  they 
were  enjojnng  a  much  needed  rest. 

For  several  days  before  starting  on  the  return  they 
cheerfully  gave  all  their  little  strength  to  the  decorat- 
ing of  the  home  of  their  host  for  the  approaching 
birthday  party  of  his  wife. 

Only  once  Cleora  whispered  : 

"  The  angels  are  thus,  Llewellyn,  making  beautiful 
3-our  home  in  heaven  ;  and  their  flowers  wnl  never 
fade." 

During  the  eve  of  departure,  Colonel  Rhodes  and 
several  gentlemen  of  the  Residency  staff  formally 
pledged  themselves,  in  grateful  recognition  of  religious 
impressions  received,  to  erect  a  Litchfield  Memorial 
Chapel  in  Sreenuggur,  and  to  endow  a  native  pasto- 
rate. 

"And,"  added  the  Colonel,  "may  he  preach  the 
religion  which  you  live  !  " 


CHAPTER  LV. 


FROM  AGRA  TO   GLORY. 


D 


OCTOR  HAZARD  advised  Mr.  Litchfield,  upon 
his  return  to  Agra,  to  disengage  himself 
as  much  as  possible  from  the  care  of  the  mission, 
and  to  take  all  the  out-door  exercise  his  strength 
would  allow.  Arrangements  were  therefore  made  for 
excursion-s  from  the  city  every  week,  sometimes  to 
the  village-stations,  but  more  frequently  to  Secundra 
and  Futtehpore  Sikri,  to  enjoj"  the  magnificent  archi- 
tecture of  the  great  Mogul,  Akbar. 

To  the  latter,  an  enormous  cluster  of  elaborately 
ornamented  palaces  and  pavilions  and  colonnades,  he 
went  but  a  few  times,  as  its  distance  required  a  night 
from  home.  There  he  pitched  his  tent,  either  in  the 
Dewaui-Khas,  throne-room,  or  under  one  of  three  beau- 
tifully-carved  pavilions  of  Akbar's  favorite  sultanas. 

His  interest  in  the  Futtehpore  Sikri  mosque,  par- 
ticularly in  its  magnificent  southern  gateway,  and 
the  solution  there  by  Saracenic  architects  of  a  problem 
Greeks  and  Goths  tried  in  vain  to  master,  enabled 
Llewelyn  to  contribute  to  the  literature  of  art  two 
exceedingly  valuable  monographs.  Upon  them,  his 
Alma  Mater  the  following  spring  would  gladly  have 

506 


FROM  AGRA  TO  GLORY.  507 

given  him  a  title,  but  then  he  was  where  religious 
honors  do  not  tardily  wait  for  a  comparatively  tri- 
fling secular  merit  or  availability. 

More  frequently  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Litchfield,  and  the 
children,  who  now  always  accompanied  them,  were 
able  to  visit  Secundra  and  the  neighboring  Orphan- 
age and  Christian  village.  It  was  only  a  pleasant 
hour's  drive  out  ill  the  morning,  and  the  early  even- 
ing returns  were  delightful.  The  garden  of  Akbar's 
tomb,  still  preserved,  though  less  perfectly  than  that 
of  the  T;ij,  and  the  terraces  and  arches  of  the  royal 
mausoleum  furnished  retreats  for  rest  and  recreation. 

For  the  father  it  was  fatiguing  to  ascend  to  the 
pavilions  of  the  upper  stories,  and  especially  to  the 
crowning  marble  cloister,  but  it  was  always  cool  and 
pleasant  there,  and  the  children  loved  to  climb,  and 
he  did  his  best  to  please  ihem. 

Under  the  cypresses  and  other  evergreens  of  the 
Taj,  and  at  the  mausoleum  of  Elmad-ood  Doulah,  Mr. 
Litchfield  corrected  the  final  proof  sheets  of  his  work 
on  The  Evidences  of  Christianity,  and  also  of  his  por- 
tion of  the  Hindi  Scripture  revision,  being  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  the  Hebrews. 

At  the  annual  gathering  of  the  mission  in  Novem- 
ber, 1SS1,  the  attendance  was  very  general.  A  thou- 
sand converts  and  fifty  native  pastors  participated 
in  the  communion  service,  at  which  Mr.  Litchfield 
preMil-ed.  There  were  too  many  for  the  chapel,  and 
the  delightful  service  had  to  be  in  the  open  air,  in 
the  cool  of  the  evening.  It  was  the  last  time  that  the 
missionary  left  his  room. 


508  SELF-GIVING. 

But  there  he  met  the  fifteen  young  men  of  the 
theological  school,  and  urged  them  to  count  all 
jthingi  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus  their  Lord,  and  to  press  toward  the 
mark  for  the  prize  of  their  high  calling  of  God.  Then 
he  dismissed  them,  with  a  present  to  each  of  the  new 
Hindi  Testament,  with  these  words  marked: 

44  Filially,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are 
just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think 
on  these  things." 

All  the  missionaries  of  the  station  had  several  con- 
ferences around  his  bedside.  Upon  them  he  urged 
loyalty  to  the  executive  officers  of  their  Missions- 
Society,  unity  in  all  their  plans  and  operations, 
prayerful  caution  in  all  correspondence,  and  far 
greater  care  for  genuine  than  for  large  results. 

"  Miss  Kilburne,  I  want  you  to  stay  a  little  while 
this  evening,"  he  said,  as  the  missionaries  were  going 
out  from  their  last  interview.  '-You  have  been  a 
true  sister  to  Cleora  and  to  me,  and  what  could  my 
children  have  done  without  you?  Under  God,  you 
have  toiled  nobly  and  successfully  for  the  cause  in 
India.  Yet  I  am  confident  that  Christ  through  your 
blind  eyes  will  gain  many  more  rich  trophies  from 
among  this  people.  '  Thou  therefore  endure  hard- 
ness, as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

11  My.  children,"  lie  added  one  evening,  as  they  came 
in  to  kiss  him  good-night  before  their  early  retiring, 


FROM  AGRA  TO  GLORY.  509 

Myou  have  lived  most  twelve  years,  and  3-011  have 
always  thought  that  papa  loved  3011  just  as  much  out  of 
your  sight  as  now.  And  that  is  the  way  God  loves  us; 
the  same  when  we  do  not  see  him  as  when  he  is  plainly 
present.  In  a  little  while  you  may  feel  very  lone- 
some, but  try  to  think  of  Jesus  as  in  the  other  room. 
Present  or  absent  from  you,  always,  if  you  will  let 
him,  he  will  be  a  better  friend  to  3-ou  than  mamma,  or 
papa,  or  aunt  Margaret." 

'•Darling  wife,  we  are  all  alone  now.  H  >w  beauti- 
ful this  day  has  been  !     I  have  felt  unusually  well." 

"But  you  have  been  doing  so  much,  Llewellyn 
dear,  that  I  am  feeling  very  anxious." 

"Let  me  see  your  picture  in  the  album  —  that  one 
taken  the  day  before  we  were  married.  You  were 
a  beautiful  bride  ;    but  you  are  more  beautiful  now. 

"  O,  I  forgot  to  tell  you,  Cleofa,  that  when  I  went 
to  the  Taj  the  week  before  communion,  I  pencilled  on 
our  monument  my  name,  and  under  it  in  English  and 
Hindi  and  Hindustani  —  'A  sinner  saved  by  Jesus 
Christ.'  You  can  have  the  date  put  on,  and  all 
chiselled  in.  The  wind  is  very  strong  to-night;  are 
3-011  sure  that  the  children  are  out  of  the  draught? 

"  There,  let  me  take  your  hand,  Cleora.  I  have 
much  to  say  to  you.  Where  shall  I  begin  ?  But 
I  am  so  tired;  perhaps  I  better  wait  till  morning." 

But  when  morning  came,  he  was  not  there.  Un- 
known to  wife  or  any,  and  probabl}'  also  to  himself, 
he  was  carried  to  the  spirit-land  and  awoke  among 
the  blest. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

FAMINE   AND    PESTILENCE. 

IN  two  respects,  man  can  see  a  silver  lining  to  the 
terribly  dark  clouds  which  of  late  years  have 
hung  over  vast  populations  in  Asia.  When  hunger 
and  contagious  diseases  have  swept  away  hundreds 
of  thousands,  and  even  millions  in  a  few  months, 
governments,  in  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
have  been  prompted  to  undertake  vast  enterprises  to 
alleviate  present  misery  and  to  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  the  calamities.  And  then,  also,  the  grandest  possi- 
ble opportunities  have  been  furnished  to  teach  the 
heathen  world  the  lessons  of  Christian  philanthropy. 

Thus  in  1877-78,  in  the  land  of  the  Telugus  of 
Southeastern  India,  six  million  died,  but  the  Bucking- 
ham canal  was  constructed,  and  the  almost  unequalled 
charities  of  Christian  England  and  America  swept 
away  mountains  of  Hindu  suspicion  and  hostility. 

A  few  months  later,  and  over  the  densely  populated 
provinces  of  Shan-si,  S hen-si,  Chi-li  and  Shan-tung, 
in  North  China,  similar  blessings  have  followed  in 
the  train  of  still  greater  loss  of  life  ;  and,  likewise  the 
succeeding  year  among  the  present  more  scattered 
populations  of  ancient  Assyria  and  Armenia. 

510 


FAMINE  AND  PESTILENCE.  511 

The  summer  of  1882  was  a  fearful  one  for  the  dis- 
trict of  Agra,  Delhi,  and  Jaipoor.  Neither  of  the  last 
two  monsoons  had  brought  any  rain.  The  farm  wells 
had  been  dry  for  several  months,  so  that  there  could 
be  no  irrigation  except  along  the  river  banks'.  Mil- 
lions were  living  chiefly  upon  roots  and  leaves;  and 
to  render  the  situation  still  more  dreadful,  there  was 
not  only  a  large  increase  of  disease,  such  as  would 
naturally  arise  among  a  starving  population,  but  chol- 
era had  broken  out,  first  in  Futtigurh,  then  in  Ally- 
gurh,  and  finally  in  Agra,  for  which  the  epidemic 
seemed  to  have  reserved  its  utmost  fury. 

There  had  been  a  general  flight  of  all  the  European 
residents.  The  missionaries  alone  remained.  The 
garrison  of  the  fort  was  reduced  to  the  lowest  practi- 
cable number,  and  all  communication  with  the  city 
was  closed  quite  as  effectually  as  if  there  had  been 
an  investment  by  rebellious  sepoj-s. 

All  the  ordinary  work  of  the  mission  had  to  give 
place  to  the  conflict  with  the  new  enemies,  before  whom 
thousands  were  daily  falling.  While  the  cholera  was 
at  its  height,  even  the  industrial  departments  were 
closed,  although  during  the  rest  of  the  time  they 
were  overcrowded  by  Christians,  anxious  for  work 
enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 

In  the  division  of  labor  arranged,  Mrs.  Litchfield 
and  Miss  Kilburne  had  charge  of  the  famine-relief 
and  medical  work  upon  the  mission  premises,  where 
it  was  the  general  effort  to  concentrate  all  that  could 
be  done  for  their  Christian  adherents  in  the  vicinity. 
This  left  Messrs.  Fowler,  Wightman,  Arlington  and 


512  SELF-GIVING. 

Hayward,  and  their  wives,  to  engage  in  the  far  larger 
work  throughout  the  city  and  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, into  which  frequent  excursions  were  necessary. 

The  Indian  government  forwarded  large  quantities 
of  food  and  medicine  to  the  afflicted  district,  but  so 
great  was  the  demand  that  Cleora  drew  upon  her 
own  funds  for  a  year  in  advance,  and  applications  had 
to  be  made  for  benevolent  contributions  both  from 
England  and  from  America.  The  responses  were 
generous  and  prompt. 

Mrs.  Litchfield's  dwelling  became  a  storehouse, 
from  which  daily  rations  were  issued  to  between  three 
and  five  thousand  people.  She  had  ordered  a  thou- 
sand buckets  from  Calcutta  and  Bombay,  and  all  re- 
ceiving help,  who  were  able,  were  required  to  do  some 
labor  in  brin<nn<T  water  from  the  river.  Thus  the 
mission  grounds  were  kept  well  irrigated,  and  the 
grass  and  foliage  were  preserved,  furnishing  a  most 
welcome  retreat  for  the  sick  and  suffering  from  the 
surrounding  desert.  The  children  she  sent  with 
Huchi  to  Allahabad. 

For  hospital  purposes,  Miss  Kilburne  was  compelled 
to  use  also  the  school-building  and  the  chapel.  The 
floors  were  covered  with  the  sick  and  the  dying. 
Others  had  to  be  eyes  for  her  in  the  examinations  and 
in  the  making  up  of  prescriptions,  but  her  general 
health  was  perfect,  and  there  was  no  breaking  under 
sixteen  hours'  work  a  day. 

For  the  second  time  seed-grain  had  to  be  distrib- 
uted, as  the  rot  and  the  locusts  destroyed  the  first 
sowing,  even  as  previously  among  the  Telugus. 


FAMINE  AND  PESTILENCE.  513 

Very  remarkable  was  the  effect  upon  the  native 
mind  of  all  this  Christian  heroism  and  sacrifice. 
That  government  should  dispense  charity  with  a  lib- 
eral hand  was  understood  ;  "  For,"  said  Hindus  and 
Moslems,  "if  the  English  do  not  save  our  lives,  of 
what  good  is  the  country  to  them?  Government  re- 
lief pays  well." 

But  that  American  missionaries  should  voluntarily 
brave  death  to  save  the  lives  not  only  of  converts, 
but  of  those  they  know  hate  them  and  their  religion 
alike,  and  that  those  who  could  have  no  selfish 
motive  in  view,  should  send  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
rupees  of  relief  money,  this  was  extraordinary  and 
inexplicable.  Such  motives  were  unknown  to  their 
religions.  There  must  be  a  power  in  Christianity 
that  is  from  the  true  God. 

Especially  the  calm,  unterrified,  and  cheerful  labor 
of  the  missionaries ;  it  was  more  than  courage,  more 
than  self-mastery,  more  than  ambition  to  do  a  meri- 
torious act.  Thousands  gave  up  their  idols,  some 
even  their  faith  in  the  Koran.  Though  not  until  all 
danger  was  past  were  converts  enrolled,  hundreds 
then  sought  to  be  recognized  as  followers  of  Christ ; 
and  before  the  close  of  the  year,  the  ranks  of  the  mis- 
sion had  doubled,  with  no  signs  of  lessening  of  enlist- 
ments. In  one  season  the  missionaries  had  done  years 
of  labor. 

Doctor  Hazard,  who  under  their  example  had  re- 
turned to  his  work,  was  reconverted  and  accepted 
appointment  as  missionary  plwsician  ;  and  General 
Rhodes  also  participated  in  the  Pentecostal  blessing. 


CHAPTER  LVIL 


THE  BURIAL  AT  SEA. 


FROM  the  exhaustion  of  the  summer  Mrs.  Litch- 
field did  not  rally  in  the  autumn.  She  had 
escaped  the  epidemic,  through  which  she  had  labored 
so  efficiently,  and  no  particular  disease  seemed  to 
have  fastened  upon  her;  but  there  was  almost 
complete  physical  prostration.  She  could  neither 
eat  nor   sleep.     She  was  all  worn  out. 

An  immediate  voyage  at  sea  was  earnestly  advised 
b}'  Doctor  Hazard,  by  Miss  Kilburne,  and  by  all  the 
other  missionaries.  And  providentially  there  was  a 
ship  at  Calcutta,  with  cabin  and  stateroom  accommo- 
dations fully  equal  to  those  of  steamers,  which  was  to 
make  a  round  voyage  of  six  weeks  to  Penang,  Singa- 
pore, and  Batavia. 

It  was  arranged  that  Margaret  and  Huchi  should 
accompany  her,  the  children  being  kept  during  her 
absence  at  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lindsey. 
Huchi  was  to  be  hands  and  feet  for  Cleora,  and 
eyes  for  Margaret. 

The  native  preachers  begged  to  carry  Mrs.  Litch- 
field in  a  sedan-chair  to  the  station.  They  said  that 
it  would  be  easier  than  the  wagon.     And  as  thus  the 

514 


THE  BURIAL  AT  SEA.  515 

exhausted  missionary  was  borne  forth,  she  found 
hundreds  of  Christian  women  and  children  lining 
the  path  from  the  dwelling  to  the  gate,  singing  — 


In  the  sweet  by  and  by, 

We  shall  meet  on  that  beautiful  shore. 


The  men  had  gathered  in  equal  numbers  beyond 
the  railway  station,  along  the  track  for  a  great  dis- 
tance. They  stood  in  perfect  silence  as  the  train 
passed.  Not  more  than  half  of  them  were  Christians. 
Many  were  prominent  Hindus  and  Moslems  of  the 
city,  into  whose  zenanas  and  harems  Cleora  and 
Margaret  had  brought  all  the  light  that  had  ever 
entered.  Outside,  Doctor  Hazard  had  freely  said, 
it  was  doubtful  whether  the  widowed  missionary 
could  ever  return,  and  the  gratitude  of  all  classes 
for  so  many  inestimable  services,  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity for  expression. 

At  Allahabad,  where  connection  was  made  with 
the  through-line  from  Bombay  to  Calcutta,  a  rail- 
way official  gave  notice  to  the  ladies  that  the  direct- 
or's drawing-room  carriage  was  in  waiting  for  them 
by  arrangement  with  General  Rhodes  of  Agra. 

At  the  American  Mission  Home  in  Calcutta,  every- 
thing possible  was  done  by  loving  hearts  and  ready 
hands  to  make  their  guests  comfortable,  and  to 
cheer  one  on  the  way  to  health  or  heaven.  Mis- 
sionaries, merchants,  and  civil  and  military  officers 
called  in  large  numbers,  but  Cleora  was  too  much 
exhausted  by  the  long  ride  to  see  them.     Margaret 


616  SELF-GIVING. 

met  tli em  all  ;  she  could  not  now  see  well  enough  to 
recognize  countenances. 

Accompanied  by  the  United  States  Consul-General, 
the  Viceroy  called ;  and  as  it  was  so  signal  a  recog- 
nition of  missionary  services,  and  would  help  the 
cause  throughout  India,  Mrs.  Litchfield  joined  Miss 
Kilburne  in  the  parlor  to  receive  him. 

"Ladies,"  he  said,  "  what  the  names  of  Florence 
Nightingale  and  Howard  and  Wilberforce  are  to  Great 
Britain,  your  names,  and  those  of  your  Agra  associ- 
ates, will  be  to  India." 

"  We  much  prefer,  your  Excellency,"  replied  Cleora, 
"  to  be  ourselves  forgotten,  and  have  Christ  remem- 
bered among  these  Hindu  and  Moslem  millions." 

As  the  voyagers  climbed  the  stairs  from  the  little 
boat  at  the  side  of  the  ship,  Margaret  slipped  a  step 
because  of  her  blindness,  and  Cleora,  who  was  close 
behind,  caught  and  saved  her  from  falling  into  the 
water. 

The  exertion  was  too  much  for  the  invalid,  and  she 
had  scarcely  reached  her  stateroom  before  she  began 
to  raise  blood. 

Although  the  hemorrhage  was  very  severe,  Mar- 
garet was  successful  in  stopping  it.  But  Cleora  saw 
that  the  blind  eyes  were  full  of  tears,  and  said  in  a 
whisper  : 

"It  is  all  right,  Margaret.  Any  little  thing  would 
have  brought  this  on.  Not  you,  but  a  signal  from  the 
home  Jesus  has  prepared  for  me,  and  where  Llewellyn 
is  waiting." 

The  voyage  did  no  good.      The  beautiful  island  of 


THE  BURIAL  AT  SEA.  517 

Penang  delighted  her  eyes  with  its  vegetation,  and 
soothed  her  with  the  music  of  its  waterfalls,  but  could 
not  call  back  the  strength  that  had  been  given  to 
thousands,  nor  close  the  ruptured  arteries  which  al- 
most daily  lost  her  somewhat  of  hold  on  earthly  life. 

The  ship  returned,  and  they  were  one  day  out  from 
land.  Huchi  awoke  Margaret  with  a  word  from 
Cleora. 

14  Sister  dear,"  she  whispered,  as  Margaret  knelt  by 
her  side,  "  Llewellyn  has  come  for  me.  Jesus  has  told 
him  that  he  need  not  wait  any  longer.  I  give  the 
children  to  you.  They  want  to  be  missionaries.  May 
God  help  you  to  advise  them  rightly." 

A  moment  she  rested,  and  then  in  feebler  whispers 
continued  : 

44  Tell  the  darlings  that  mamma  is  perfectly  happy. 
Tell  them — O  Llewellyn,  it  is  you!  How  bright 
your  crown  !  How  beautiful  your  robe  !  They  are 
singing.  O  Cleora,  darling !  you  too?  Yes.  Beau- 
tiful child  —  dazzling  white!  Jesus!  Chiefest  — 
ten  thousand  —  altogether  —  lovely  !  " 

Margaret  knew  that  Cleora  was  gone.  Huchi  said 
there  lingered  a  beautiful  smile,  and  Margaret  tried 
to  feel  it  with  her  hand. 

And  still  they  were  six  days  from  Calcutta :  only  a 
ship  ;  no  ice.  The  captain  said  there  was  but  one 
way.  They  wrapped  her  in  several  white  linen  sheets, 
with  a  hundred  pounds  of  lead.  The  English  Church 
burial  service  was  read  by  the  captain.  Gently  the 
body  was  lowered  to  the  surface  of  the  waters,  and 
then  they  received  it. 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 

A  PART   OF   THE   FIRST   RESURRECTION. 

ON  reaching  Calcutta,  Margaret  and  Huchi  took 
the  train  immediately  for  Agra. 

Margaret  felt  that  she  should  be  the  one  to  break 
the  news  to  the  fatherless  and  now  motherless  chil- 
dren. 

She  drove  directly  from  the  station  to  the  Lindseys 
but  learned  there  that  Miriam  had  taken  her  wards 
to  the  Taj. 

Hastening  thither,  she  found  them  playing  with 
the  echoes  under  the  great  dome. 

Margie  first  caught  sight  of  her  aunt,  and  rushed 
to  meet  her,  exclaiming : 

"  O  aunt  Margaret  !    and  is  mamma  here  too  ?  " 

— "  mamma  here  too." 

And  at  the  same  moment  Juddie  asked  eagerly: 

"  Is  she  well  and  happy  ?  " 

— "  well  and  happy." 

Huchi  motioned  Miriam  to  accompany  her,  that 
the  children  might  be  alone  with  Margaret. 

518 


A  PART  OF  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.         519 

"  The  echoes  answer  your  questions,  darlings,  truly.  But  I  have 
a  long  and  beautiful  story  to  tell  you.  Let  us  go  first  outside  these 
walls  to  the  pleasant  little  yard,  where  the  bodies  of  your  papa  and 
sister  are  resting  until  the  resurrection." 

— "'till  the  resurrection." 

"  Juddie,  you  take  one  hand  ;  and  Margie,  you  take  the  other ; 
and  I  will  be  safe  in  the  dark." 

— "  safe  in  the  dark.'" 

"  There,  auntie,  that  is  mamma's  seat  close  to  the 
head  of  papa's  grave.  You  take  it,  and  Margie  and 
I  will  sit  clown  on  the  grass." 

"  If  mamma  is  at  home,  I  want  to  go  right  off  to 
see  her/'  said  Margie  impatiently. 

"  She  is  at  home,  darlings,  but  in  the  beautiful 
home  with  Jesus,  and  your  papa,  and  your  sister." 

For  a  moment  their  lips  quivered,  as  their  eyes 
filled  with  tears ;  then  they  buried  their  faces  in  the 
grass-covered  mound  of  him  they  loved  so  well. 

Margaret  waited  for  God  to  whisper  his  own  com- 
fort. She  knew  that  they  were  Christians,  and  that 
Christ  had  promised  not  to  leave  them  comfortless. 

Then,  too,  perhaps  in  the  ministry  of  angels  at  that 
moment  the  yearnings  of  parental  hearts  were  being 
satisfied. 

"  I  do  not  feel  sorry  for  mamma,  auntie,"  sobbed 
Margie,  breaking  the  silence. 

"  God  was  good  to  let  us  have  our  mamma  so  long," 
added  Juddie.  "Where  shall  we  bury  her,  auntie  ? 
Ou  this  side  of  papa?  " 

"She  is  already  buried  in  the  beautiful  water,  and 
is  just  as  safe  as  here  for  God  to  raise  up,  that  you 
may  meet  her  and  your  papa  again." 


520  SELF-GIVING. 

"  I  would  rather  not  go  'to  meet  her  just  yet," 
said  Margie,  "  for  mamma  has  many  stars  in  her 
crown,   and   I  have   not  any   yet." 

"  Yes,  you  have.  But  I  haven't,"  replied  Jucldie. 
"You  read  the  Bible  to  Sundie  and  Tijjizan  and 
Bholi,  until  all  those  women  became  Christians, 
and  you  have  told  about  Jesus  a  great  many 
times  to  Rani  and  Mona  and  Haidra  and  to  many 
other  girls." 

"  But,  Juddie,"  protested  the  sister,  "  you  helped 
mamma  feed  the  starving  people,  except  when  we 
were  away  with  Huchi.  And  Mookerjee  told  you 
he  would  never  more  worship  any  idols,  but  only 
your  God.  And  Kanhan  Singh  asked  you  why 
you  fed  him,  and  you  said  "For  Jesus'  sake;'  and 
when  he  joined  the  church  he  told  them  your  words 
led  him  to  Christ." 

"I  have  not  worked  as  hard  as  you,  Margie,  any- 
way. You  did  not  give  up  asking  Torina  Datt  and 
Parbutti  to  come  to  meeting  for  one  whole  year. 
What  I  have  done  has  been  only  a  little  now  and 
then,  but  I  want  to  do  more.  Oh,  if  I  could  only 
be  of  half  as  much  good  to  these  Hindus  as  was 
papa,  I  would  feel  richer  than  any  Maharajah  of 
India." 

"And  if  I  could  do  a  few  years  here  as  mamma  has 
done,"  continued  Margie,  I  would  not  change  places 
with  Queen  Victoria.  I  clo  not  want  to  live  any- 
where else  than  in  Agra,  until  I  can  live  in  heaven." 

Miss  Kilburne  sat  listening,  with  her  blind  eyes 
full  of  tears.     The  resurrection  of  the  self-giving  mar- 


A  PART  OF  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.         521 

tyr-spirits  of  Llewellyn  and  Cleora  was  taking  place 
before  her.  No  need  of  her  counsel  yet.  The  children, 
leaning  at  her  feet  over  the  grassy  mound,  were 
barkening  obediently  to  the  Still  Small  Voice. 

"If  I  am  to  be  a  missionary  as  mamma  was,  I  must 
be  a  great  deal  better  Christian,"  observed  Margie. 

"It  should  be  I  to  say  that,"  replied  Juddie. 
"  Auntie,  will  you  always  live  with  us  in  Agra,  and 
tell  us  how  to  work  for  Jesus  ?  " 

"  O,  that  will  be  beautiful,  auntie ;  will  it  not  ?  " 
exclaimed  the  enthusiastic  sister.  "And  I  am 
really  glad  you  cannot  see,  so  that  you  can  be  with 
us  and  talk  with  us  all  the  time. 

"I  will  live  with  you,  darlings,  as  long  as  God 
allows  me  ;  and  will  try  to  do  everything  for  you  that 
your  papa  and  mamma  would  desire.  But  in  a  few 
years  you  should  go  to  America  to  finish  your 
education"  — 

"  And  you  go  too,  auntie  ?  "   interrupted  both. 

"  Yes.  To-morrow  will  be  New  Year's  Day,  1883. 
You  are  almost  thirteen.  I  will  try  to  teach  you 
here  until  you  are  sixteen.  Then  I  will  arrange  a 
home  for  you  until  you  graduate,  in  Boston  or  New 
York." 

"  I  wish  that  was  all  over,  and  we  were  all  back 
here  again,"  said  Juddie. 

"  So  do  I,"  added  Margie.  "  And  do  you  believe, 
auntie,  that  papa  and  mamma  know  all  that  we  have 
been  saying  ?  " 

"  O,  yes,  indeed!  And  their  happy  spirits  will 
watch  you  on  this  journey  until  its  glorious  end." 


TWO    NEW    BOOKS 


Ground  the  World  Tour  of  Christian  Missions, 

AND 

Round  the  World  Letters. 


AROUND    THE    WORLD    TOUR    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS. 
12mo,  with  Maps  of  prevailing  Religions  and  all  mission  Stations.    Price,  $2.00. 

Rev.  W.  F.  Bainbridge,  for  ten  years  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  churches  in  the  coun- 
y,  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  has  lately  returned  from  a  two  years'  tour  of  nearly  all  the  Chris- 
an  Mission  Work  of  the  world.  In  a  volume,  12mo,  of  nearly  600  pages,  he  gives  a 
niversal  survey  of  home  and  foreign  evangelization,  compiled  from  personal  study  upon 
le  field  of  many  lands,  and  from  conference  with  over  a  thousand  missionaries.  It  is  entirely 
ndenominational,  and  the  result  of  thoroughly  independent  investigations.  Several  maps 
>cate  all  leading  mission  stations  of  all  denominations  of  all  Protestant  lands,  and  also  show 
xe  prevailing  religions  of  the  world.  No  work  in  this  line,  so  complete  and  so  reliable,  has 
rer  been  published  in  America,  England  or  Europe.  Every  pastor  will  find  it,  though  in 
arrative  and  popular  style,  a  complete  compend  of  the  information  he  requires  for  the  pul- 
it  and  mission  concert.  And  nowhere  else  can  any  who  desire  an  intelligent  acquaintance 
1th  modern  missions  find  that  full  and  fresh  information,  which  this  timely  and  remarkable 
ork  makes  agreeably  accessible.  It  should  be  in  every  Christian  home  and  Sunday- 
:hool,  as  it  is  unquestionably  the  most  valuable  contribution  thus  far  made  to  the  standard 
;erature  of  Christian  Missions. 


ROUND    THE    WORLD    LETTERS. 

12mo,  illustrated,  price  $1.50. 

Mrs.  Lucy  Seaman  Bainbridge,  who  accompanied  her  husband  on  this  very  exception- 
!ly  extensive  tour  of  over  fifty  thousand  miles,  and  who  has  been  remarkably  successful  in 
ewspaper  correspondence  with  several  leading  journals  of  New  England  and  Ohio,  has 
ritten  an  accompanying  volume,  12mo,  542  pages,  full  of  personal  experiences  over  many 
inds  and  seas.  In  a  peculiarly  vivacious  and  attractive  style  she  packs  an  immense  amount 
t  world-wide  and  fresh  information,  drawing  also  upon  their  previous  tour  of  Europe, 
Igypt  and  the  Holy  Land.  This  thoroughly  original  and  unique  work  is  sure  to  be  very 
opular,  for  it  tells  so  much  in  the  way  people  like  to  be  told.  It  should  be  in  every  family 
ad  in  every  secular  and  Sunday-school  library.    It  is  beautifully  illustrated. 


D.  LOTHROP  &  COMPANY, 


BOUND  THE  WORLD  LETTERS. 

'•Vivid    picture    of   adventures,    stores    of    reliable    information."    Providence 
Journal. 

"  Brilliant  photograph:  keen,  intelligent,  entertaining,  fascinating." —  The  Watch- 
in  in.     Boston. 

"Sure  to  be  very  popular.      Thoroughly  unique  and  original."  —  Maine  Farmer. 
Augusta. 

"  Piquant  and  attractive  style.     No  trace  of  padding  from  guide  books."  —  Republi- 
can Journal.     Belfast,  Maine. 

"A  very  readable  and  instructive  book  of  travels.      Read  the  book."  —  Morning 
Star.     Dover,  N.  H. 

"  There  is  an  abandon  in  the  style  of  these  racy  letters  that  is  captivating."  —  Phil- 
adelphia Methodist. 

"More    interesting     than     any    history."  —  Southern     Churchman.     Richmond, 
Va. 

"  Sure  to  receive,  as  it  deserves,  wide  reading." 
"  Bright,  vivid  and  sensible."  —  The  Independent.     New  York. 
"  Exceedingly  racy  and  vivacious."  — Jour?ial  and  Messenger.     Cincinnati. 
"  Graphic  description  of  strange  sights  and  doings." —  Contributor.     Boston. 
"  Quite  original ;  very  entertaining."     Secretary.     Hartford. 
'"Very  pleasant  reading."  Presbyterian.     Philadelphia. 
"Singularly  interesting."  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Clark,  D   D .,  LL.  D. 
"  Very  graphic  and  readable.     Admirable  volume."    President  Robinson.     Brown 
Univ. 

"  A  bright,  chatty  resume  of  travels."  Secy.  Ellingwood.     Presbvterian  Board. 
"  Alwavs  racy,  and  interesting:. "     President  Strong,  Rochester  Tlieo   Sem. 
"Captures  the  reader;  especially  valuable  ;  should  be  in  every  family. " —    Cleve- 
land Leader. 

"  Much  information  in  an  agreeable  way.      Vivacious  and  genial  style." —  Chicago 
Evening  Journal. 

"Chatty. and    entertaining:    pleasant  glimpses    out   of  beaten   paths."  —  Boston 
A  dvertiser. 

"  Familiar,  free  and  easy  sketches  of  travel:  pleasant  addition  to  literature."—  The 
Observer,   New  York. 

"  Novelty,  variety  and  spice."  — Rural  Home.      Rochester. 

"Exhilarating  as  a  Seabreeze  in  summer." — The  S.  S.  Superintendent.      Provi- 
dence. 

"  Most  vivid  and  interesting  descriptions."-    Chronicle.     London. 
"  Observations  and  experiences  attractively  told." — The  Advance.     Chicago. 
"  Impressions  recorded  in  a  lively  and  attractive  manner." — New  York  Herald. 
"  Entertaining  and  instructive."  —  Gospel  in  all  La?ids.     New  York. 
"  None   can   read   without   pleasure  and   profit. "  —  President   Hovey.      Newton 
Theo.  Sem. 

"  Pictures  of   a  quick,    and   clear-sighted   observer."  —  Prof.    Bancroft.      Brown 
Univ. 

"Extremely  instructive,   by   a  keen   and    very  intelligent    student."  —  President 
Anderson.     Rochester  Univ. 


AROUND  THE  WORLD  TOUR  OP   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

"The  book  is  alive,  descriptions  vivid  and  delightful."  —Providence  Journal. 

"Accurate  information;  interesting  to  read,  of  value  for  reference." — Chicago 
Evening  Journal. 

"Flic  writer  of  this  volume  admirably  fitted  for  the  task  undertaken."  —  Maine 
Farmer,     Augusta. 

"  Cyclopaedia  of  information,  doubtful  if  of  equal  value  has  appeared.  Being 
republished  in  France."  -•  The  Watchman.    Boston. 

"  An  important  contribution  to  literature,  golden  treasury  of  facts."  — Religious 
Herald.    Richmond,  Va. 

"Mr.  Bainbridge  is  observant,  pleasant,  and  singularly  fair-minded." — Clene- 
land  Herald. 

"  We  are  intensely  interested  and  greatly  instructed." — Watch  Tower.  New 
York. 

"  Has  fascinating  interest,  and  is  full  of  cheer." — Christian  at  Work.     New  York. 

"  Written  from  mission  fields  of  all  the  world,  rather  than  from  the  reports." 
—  Mornuig  Star.     Dover,  N.  H. 

"  The  sketches  of  scenes  are  graphic  ;  the  style  thoroughly  pleasing." —  Republican 
Journal.     Belfast,  Maine. 

"  Careful  observations,  interesting,  and  will  be  read  with  profit." —  Z ion's  Herald. 
Boston. 

"Its  freshness  and  reliability  commend  it  to  all  Christians." — Philadelphia 
Methodist. 

"An  elaborate  volume,  written  under  circumstances  altogether  favorable." — The 
Observer.     New  York. 

"  Nothing  like  it  in  breadth  of  view,  impartiality,  and  thoroughness." — Western 
Christian  Advocate.     Cincinnati. 

"  High  commendation  for  comprehensiveness  and  fairness."  —  Manual,  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church, 

"  Has  received  almost  universal  commendation."  —  Christian  Missionary.  Cin- 
cinnati. 

"  By  its  thoroughness,  candor,  and  undenominational  spirit,  will  win  an  extended 
influence." —  Sunday  School  Times.     Philadelphia. 

"  An  interesting  addition  to  literature."  — New  York  World. 

"  Reaily  valuable.     We  can  speak  very  highly." —  The  Churchman.     New  York. 

"Valuable;  admirable."  —  Miss.  Review.     Princeton. 

"  His  Christianity  suits  us."  —  American  Rural  Home.      Rochester. 

"  Missionary  Periodicals  have  been  very  favorable  ;  reason  enough  for  their  appro- 
bation."—  The  Independent.     New  York. 

"We  cannot  too  highly  commend."  — Journal  and  Messenger.    Cincinnati. 

"  Exceedingly  interesting."  —  Secretary.    Hartford. 

"Uncommonly  interesting  and  instructive."  —  President  Hovey.  Newton  Theo. 
Sem. 

"  Unequalled  opportunities.  Close,  careful  observer.  Entertaining.  Well  worthy 
the  wide  circulation  sure  to  have."  —  President  Robinson.     Brown  Univ. 

"Most  heartily  commend.  All  will  be  deeply  interested."  —  President  Weston, 
Crozer,  Theo.  Sem. 

"Invaluable  work."  Rey.  H.  H.Jessup,  D.  D.,  Moderator  of  Presbvonan 
Assembly. 


AROUND  THE  WORLD  TOUR  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

"  Excellent.      Judicial,  tone  pleasing." — Preside7it  Strong.    Rochester  Theo.  Sera. 
"  None  can  afford  to  be  without  it."     Rev.  E.  C.  Taylor,  D.  D.      Newark. 

"English  commend  unanimously  and  heartily.  ''  —  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine. 
Boston. 

"  Marked  ability,  fairness,  and  fulness  of  knowledge.     Hope  published  in  England. 
Deserves  wide  circulation  among  us."  —  Church  Intelligencer.     London. 

"  Shrewd  observer;  faithful  critic;  calm,  judicious,  and  discriminating."  —  London 
Society  Chronicle. 

"  Accurate,  intelligent,  fine  spirit.     Should  be  republished  here."  — Free  Church  of 
Scotland  Monthly. 

"  Catholic  spirit;  colorless  statements." —  Springfield  Republican. 

"  No  book  has  presented  the  subject  so  admirably.  " — Ititer-Ocean.     Chicago. 

"  Eminently  impartial,  and  probably  the  only  one  full  and  reliable."  —  New  York 
Herald. 

"Excellencies    many    and   great;    value    beyond  dispute."  —  Congregationalist. 
Boston. 

"  Rare  opportunities  improved  to  the  best  possible  advantage. — Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Clark,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"  Commands  the   assent  of   those  most  familiar  wnth   the   methods   of  missionary 
labor." —  Secretary  Clark.     American  Board. 

"  Best  advocate  of  Missions  by  far  that  has  yet  appeared."  —  Secretary  E llinwood, 
Presbyterian  Board. 

"  Will  certainly  be  widely  sought  for."  — President  Martin.      Imperial  University. 
Pekin. 

"  Worthy  of  careful  examination."  —  President  Anderson.     Rochester  Univ. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01233   9695 


Date  Due 

=•■  - 

■ 

i 

1 

1 

<$) 

/& 


